US must put new limits on Chinese drone maker DJI, says Federal Communications Commission member
- Calling DJI ‘Huawei on wings’, a Republican commissioner says the FCC should start the process of adding the company to a blacklist
- ‘They are collecting vast troves of sensitive data on Americans and US critical infrastructure, including high-risk images and facial recognition technology’
A member of the US Federal Communications Commission said on Tuesday that the agency should impose restrictions on Chinese drone maker DJI Technology because it poses serious national security risks.
Describing DJI, the world’s largest drone maker, as “Huawei on wings”, Commissioner Brendan Carr called for the telecommunications watchdog agency to start the process of adding the company to its so-called “covered list”, he said in a statement.
The designation would prohibit the purchase of DJI equipment with money from a federal fund managed by the FCC.
“They are collecting vast troves of sensitive data on Americans and US critical infrastructure, including high-risk images, facial recognition technology, and remote sensors that can measure an individual’s body temperature and heart rate,” said Carr, a Republican commissioner.
“DJI’s software application collects large quantities of personal information from the operator’s smartphone that could be exploited by Beijing,” he said.
“Everyone really understands the serious threat posed by Huawei. And we are in a very similar position potentially when it comes to DJI”, said Carr. “We don’t need an airborne version of Huawei.”
