Drones Take Center Stage in U.S.-China War on Data Harvesting
China’s DJI makes most of the drones Americans use, and now it’s in the cross-hairs.
By Bruce Einhorn
and Todd Shields
December 19, 2021, 4:00 PM EST
In video reviews of the latest drone models to his 80,000 YouTube subscribers, Indiana college student Carson Miller doesn’t seem like an unwitting tool of Chinese spies.
Yet that’s how the U.S. is increasingly viewing him and thousands of other Americans who purchase drones built by Shenzhen-based SZ DJI Technology Co., the world’s top producer of unmanned aerial vehicles. Miller, who bought his first DJI model in 2016 for $500 and now owns six of them, shows why the company controls more than half of the U.S. drone market.
“If tomorrow DJI were completely banned,” the 21-year-old said, “I would be pretty frightened.”
DJI Spark
Critics of DJI warn the dronemaker may be channeling reams of sensitive data to Chinese intelligence agencies on everything from critical infrastructure like bridges and dams to personal information such as heart rates and facial recognition. But to Miller, consumers face plenty of bigger threats to the privacy of their data. “There are apps that track you on your smartphone 24/7,” he said.
That attitude is a problem for American officials who are seeking to end DJI’s dominance in the U.S. On Thursday, the Biden administration blocked American investment in the company, a year after President Donald Trump prohibited it from sourcing U.S. parts. Now, lawmakers from both parties are weighing a bill that would ban federal purchases of DJI drones, while a member of the Federal Communications Commission wants its products taken off the market in the U.S. altogether.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-19/drone-wars-us-china-fight-over-big-data-shifts-from-tiktok-wechat-to-the-sky
