[malermeister]

Here's a dark conspiracy theory for ya: Consumer drones (including DJIs) are being used in warfare more and more frequently, including the war in Ukraine.

The Chinese government, while not openly supporting Russia, has been repeatedly accused of covertly doing so. Imagine what kind of harm a device used for reconnaissance could do if it secretly works for the other side.

[Staple_Diet]

That's not a theory as much as it is an acknowledged fact, and why DJI are banned from many 5-Eyes facilities.

[L_226]

no even that - DJI are potentially collecting thousands if not millions of hours of telemetry about how small drones are used in real-life combat. This is absolutely invaluable to developing countermeasures or optimising their own offensive platforms.

[tomaskafka]

Also mapping all of the western world, and sending the most detailed 3d maps of western infrastructure to servers of a company that's a part of the chinese military complex.

[sofixa]

DJI's app wasn't on the Play Store for years before Russia invaded Ukraine, so that's somewhat unlikely.

[spacebanana7]

I don't have a source to hand, but I've heard their drones were used in Syria for several years before Ukraine

[sannee]

If my Googling is correct, it seems to have been removed around 2020-2021. Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014 though.

[swells34]

China effectively banned the Play Store in 2010. Your Google-fu leaves something to be desired.

https://cybernews.com/resources/how-to-access-google-play-ap...

[jijijijij]

I very much assume, involved militaries are aware of this possibility and are not blindly trusting Chinese consumer drones right off the shelves, have soldiers in every unit install random sideloaded apps. Lol.

They likely flash verified firmware and use a verified app version, not the latest one from DJI's website... Maybe they have their own code, by now. Especially with reconnaissance drones. The Ukrainians probably need to do this, not just because of the obvious possibility of a "backdoor", but RF adaptability in the EM warfare situation.

I would worry more about contractor John Doe bringing a compromised private phone to a government or industrial facility. Not sure a highres video feed from a drone could be easily exfiltrated unnoticed, anyway, since they usually don't come with WWAN hardware built-in. But the phone itself would be able do all sorts of reconnaissance and become an attack vector in a sensitive context. Then again, this is not specific to drone (software), but all untrusted software people install.

[WhereIsTheTruth]

Are you suggesting we should ban Starlink because it is used in warfare both in Ukraine and in the middle east?

[sverhagen]

If you're very principled about it: possibly, probably, yes?

Otherwise, it might depend whose side you're on?

[travoc]

Hah, everybody is principled until the first bullet whizzes by.

[dylan604]

It's not any different from people that do not shop at WalMart, Amazon, etc because of differences with the corporation. It's not hard once you quit making excuses

[randall]

https://twitter.com/AustingrahamZ1/status/102938549721336627...

[WhereIsTheTruth]

Perhaps i expect too much from ordinary people

https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-tesla-spacex-secre...

[yard2010]

No conspiracy here, just hard cold truth.