U.S.-China War on Data Harvesting Now Involves Drones

 

Bloomberg: Drones Take Center Stage in U.S.-China War on Data Harvesting 

 (Bloomberg) -- 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.” 

Critics of DJI warn the drone maker 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.  

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WNU Editor: Information and data can be used as a weapon, a fact that both China and the U.S. are aware of.

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