Earlier this year, the U.S. government passed a bill banning the social media app TikTok from operating within the nation, a move that lawmakers have expressed interest in for some time now.
The reasoning behind it, at least the reasoning offered up by the geriatrics in Congress, is that TikTok's parent company ByteDance, is partially owned by the Chinese government, who we're not exactly buddy-buddy with.
I won't get into whether I think this is going to really give us an edge militarily or curbing the real threat of corporate espionage. But suffice it to say, my Master's degree is in counter-intelligence, and I believe the reasoning behind this ban is thin at best. But now that Congress found footing in banning TikTok, they seem to be gearing up for another fight with drone and action camera maker DJI.
And, wouldn't you know it, the proposed ban is for similar reasons.
According to Digital Trends, H.R.2864—also known as the "Countering CCP Drones Act"—would mean that "the company can no longer operate on the country’s communication infrastructure," effectively banning DJI from the U.S. market. The idea is that Congress believes there are security holes in DJI's software that could be used to insert malware and steal user's data, access key logs, and infect systems.
The accusation is that DJI is a military contractor for China. And that by being one, it has a risk of said military using DJI's equipment as trojan horses. DJI has vehemently denied such allegations, stating that "The lawmakers driving this legislation continue to reference inaccurate and unsubstantiated allegations regarding DJI’s operations, and have amplified xenophobic narratives in a quest to support local drone manufacturers and eliminate market competition."
One of the bill's proponents, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi—a Democrat from Illinois—said, “Our legislation will further protect our communications equipment while strengthening American supply chains by ensuring foreign-manufactured technologies that pose serious security threats, such as DJI’s, cannot operate in American networks."
If passed, this would mean that a large part of the action sports industry would no longer have access to quality drone technology, along with gimbal-mounted action cameras, as GoPro left the segment years ago. Whole parts would just no longer be able to operate, leaving a large wake in its path.
What's funny to me, however, is they're probably not wrong, there are probably security flaws within DJI software that could be exploited by an adversary. But how Congress applies these "concerns" as most everything we do today tracks some feature of our daily schedules and is sold by the brands that make them.
Auto manufacturers, cell phone makers, all the "U.S." social media apps track your data and sometimes your key logs. And they absolutely have your location data, which is why whenever you download an app, it asks you whether or not you're OK with it tracking you. Your data isn't secure so long as you have a phone, computer, or even supermarket saver card. They all track you.
Hell, the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal helped foment Brexit turmoil, as well as chaos within the U.S. election cycles, and nothing was done about that at all. Nor will anything be done about any of the other social media apps like Twitter or Instagram, or phone makers with large operations in China like Apple and Google.
And all of them have been hacked from time to time, with millions upon millions of user data and information exposed. Again, nothing was done.
But because a spooky foreign specter is easier to sell than a domestic one, along with being easier to ban, they'll do this and chalk it up as a "win" during their campaigns. Even if it really doesn't make any American any safer.
And we'll lose those sweet ass drone shots, which will suck.
