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I haven't been keeping up with the legislation updates, but the FAA's proposal for positional reporting required the drone to report the location of the drone a

I haven't been keeping up with the legislation updates, but the FAA's proposal for positional reporting required the drone to report the location of the drone and the pilot. It seems to still be their objective under "Why do we need RemoteID" https://www.faa.gov/uas/getting_started/remote_id/drone_pilots https://www.faa.gov/uas/getting_started/remote_id/drone_pilo... >Remote ID helps the FAA, law enforcement, and other federal agencies find the control station when a drone appears to be flying in an unsafe manner... To be clear, I don't support this implementation of RemoteID proposed by the FAA, and I don't like that the DJI app doesn't allow granular control over permissions. I fully support the Feds' efforts in sanctioning DJI. However, I think it's important that we level reasonable criticisms at DJI for behavior that they're capable of changing.

magic_hamster 4y ago
This point came up in another comment, and it's definitely reasonable - but I still don't see why DJI would require your location when using products other than drones, which they do. And as I noted before, they are providing an app which has been axed from the official store. Aside from this, as I'm sure you're aware, any information that DJI collect has a nonzero chance of being handed over the the Chinese authorities for any reason whatsoever.
- photochemsyn 4y ago
  This is a fairly broad problem across the whole phone app world, isn't it? For example, I bought an iOS app for LAN analysis, but then deleted it when it turned out it wouldn't work unless you gave it access to your physical location (I assume that was for their data marketing side business). Also, any data information collected by a US company also has 'a nonzero chance of being handed over to the American authorities for any reason whatsoever'. The only real solution is data protection laws that can be enforced not just by governmental authorities, but also by individual and class-action lawsuits against companies that violate those laws.
  - LeifCarrotson 4y ago
    > I assume that was for their data marketing side business You're confused: Their primary business is data marketing. LAN analysis or anything useful the apps might do are a side business at best.
  - sofixa 4y ago
    > This is a fairly broad problem across the whole phone app world, isn't it? For example, I bought an iOS app for LAN analysis, but then deleted it when it turned out it wouldn't work unless you gave it access to your physical location (I assume that was for their data marketing side business). I don't know how iOS works, but on Android location data permissions are requested for anything involving networking (including Bluetooth, WiFi). Why? Because access to those could be used to estimate where the user is physically located, so gating it behind the location permission is a good way to ensure nobody exploits that. It's not necessarily obvious when you're presented with the permission screen though.
    - magic_hamster 4y ago
      If it's really a case of gating permissions, I still don't like it. I used a few apps that utilize Bluetooth without asking for location, even when they aren't the obvious use case (like headphones), although admittedly it's been a while since then. Afair, I don't recall the Mimo app asking me to turn on wifi for the stabilizer. But maybe yes and I just turned it off after connecting to the device. The operation of the stabilizer is through Bluetooth.
      - squeaky-clean 4y ago
        For the majority of smartphone's existence no permission was necessary, probably because no one ever considered it. Then it was learned stores, for example Target, were using their mobile app to broadcast Bluetooth signals in order to track shoppers movement around the store. So around 2019 Android added it to the general location permission to use Bluetooth for anything other than audio transmission to/from a paired device if device pairing is handled by the OS, hidden from the app. In late 2021 Android changed it to a separate "ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" permission, while Apple still keeps it under the general bluetooth permission (while the popup mentions it can be used to track your location).
Rebelgecko 4y ago
Some of DJIs drones are small enough that they wouldn't have to follow that rule (the pilot GPS requirement is only for drones that are required to be registered with the FAA, aka those heavier than 250g. DJI very intentionally has a line of drones that weigh something like 248g)
- i_am_jl 4y ago
  Yep, the Spark and the Mavic Mini series are all exempt from registration and RemoteID as they're 249g on the nose. I'm just pointing out why the DJI app may need the capabilities that it does, but you're right, for many users who will never own a >250g DJI drone, that permission will never, ever be necessary.
petre 4y ago
If one wants to fly a drone in an unsafe manner they build a FPV drone themselves as opposed to buying an off the shelf regulated product with builtin geofencing.

magic_hamster 4y ago

This point came up in another comment, and it's definitely reasonable - but I still don't see why DJI would require your location when using products other than drones, which they do. And as I noted before, they are providing an app which has been axed from the official store. Aside from this, as I'm sure you're aware, any information that DJI collect has a nonzero chance of being handed over the the Chinese authorities for any reason whatsoever.

photochemsyn 4y ago
This is a fairly broad problem across the whole phone app world, isn't it? For example, I bought an iOS app for LAN analysis, but then deleted it when it turned out it wouldn't work unless you gave it access to your physical location (I assume that was for their data marketing side business). Also, any data information collected by a US company also has 'a nonzero chance of being handed over to the American authorities for any reason whatsoever'. The only real solution is data protection laws that can be enforced not just by governmental authorities, but also by individual and class-action lawsuits against companies that violate those laws.
- LeifCarrotson 4y ago
  > I assume that was for their data marketing side business You're confused: Their primary business is data marketing. LAN analysis or anything useful the apps might do are a side business at best.
- sofixa 4y ago
  > This is a fairly broad problem across the whole phone app world, isn't it? For example, I bought an iOS app for LAN analysis, but then deleted it when it turned out it wouldn't work unless you gave it access to your physical location (I assume that was for their data marketing side business). I don't know how iOS works, but on Android location data permissions are requested for anything involving networking (including Bluetooth, WiFi). Why? Because access to those could be used to estimate where the user is physically located, so gating it behind the location permission is a good way to ensure nobody exploits that. It's not necessarily obvious when you're presented with the permission screen though.
  - magic_hamster 4y ago
    If it's really a case of gating permissions, I still don't like it. I used a few apps that utilize Bluetooth without asking for location, even when they aren't the obvious use case (like headphones), although admittedly it's been a while since then. Afair, I don't recall the Mimo app asking me to turn on wifi for the stabilizer. But maybe yes and I just turned it off after connecting to the device. The operation of the stabilizer is through Bluetooth.
    - squeaky-clean 4y ago
      For the majority of smartphone's existence no permission was necessary, probably because no one ever considered it. Then it was learned stores, for example Target, were using their mobile app to broadcast Bluetooth signals in order to track shoppers movement around the store. So around 2019 Android added it to the general location permission to use Bluetooth for anything other than audio transmission to/from a paired device if device pairing is handled by the OS, hidden from the app. In late 2021 Android changed it to a separate "ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" permission, while Apple still keeps it under the general bluetooth permission (while the popup mentions it can be used to track your location).

Rebelgecko 4y ago

Some of DJIs drones are small enough that they wouldn't have to follow that rule (the pilot GPS requirement is only for drones that are required to be registered with the FAA, aka those heavier than 250g. DJI very intentionally has a line of drones that weigh something like 248g)

i_am_jl 4y ago
Yep, the Spark and the Mavic Mini series are all exempt from registration and RemoteID as they're 249g on the nose. I'm just pointing out why the DJI app may need the capabilities that it does, but you're right, for many users who will never own a >250g DJI drone, that permission will never, ever be necessary.

petre 4y ago

If one wants to fly a drone in an unsafe manner they build a FPV drone themselves as opposed to buying an off the shelf regulated product with builtin geofencing.