05/11/2024
Folks, the DJI ban wasn't **started** because the government was trying to protect other companies or trying to hurt China.
It was **STARTED** (that wording is important) because
(1) FIRST, my colleagues analyzed the code and found it's pretty much spyware, allowing FULL ability to read, write and exfiltrate anything.
(2) THEN, DJI actually DID JUST THAT and started spying on users (right about at the time Google made strict privacy changes to their app rules and started denying each new DJI update until they complied, and then kicked ALL of DJI's apps from the App Store.
Here's one of the multiple instances where their app was found to be exfiltrating data:
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/07/chinese-made-drone-app-in-google-play-spooks-security-researchers/ #:~:text=The%20Android%20version%20of%20DJI,more%20than%201%20million%20Google
And, if you bother to find **CYBERSECURITY** blogs about it, you will find that a full analysis of the app and what it did took place a few years ago, when this all started.
SOOOOO....
While the politicians VOTING on this may have no clue what they're voting on, those BEHIND THE MOVEMENT to MAKE DJI COMPLIANT with the most BASIC of Privacy Standards are who actually got this ball rolling.
DJI, instead of making their apps compliant, forced people to **sideload** their apps from DJI's website. NO ONE SHOULD HAVE SIDE LOADING ENABLED ON THEIR DAY TO DAY PHONES. I have a special (old, not used for anything else) phone to run their spyware so they get nothing of use.
If you ask DJI Support about this, they will avoid directly answering - I know, because after studying my colleagues findings (cybersecurity with a smattering of programming is a big part of my day job), I started pestering them to make their app compliant. But, if you find my interactions with "DJI Wanda" in their forums (kudos they haven't deleted them yet), you will find she avoids EVER answering the cyber community's concerns, and just points to their privacy policy or other BS that doesn't address their apps' insecurities and spyware.
DJI Go 4, installed more than 1 million times, can execute arbitrary code.
