
DJI adds an offline mode to its drones for clients with ‘sensitive operations’ - janober
https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/14/dji-adds-an-offline-mode-to-its-drones-for-clients-with-sensitive-operations
======
pj_mukh
I wonder if they have an "Application Process" for who is allowed to go
offline. Their biggest problem has been drones straying into places they
shouldn't. Airport locations can be stored offline but emergency FAA drone
"blackouts" are relayed online. What happens when someone uses this to
document a protest in DJI's native China. Hmm?

Edit: To make it clear, I've always had a love-hate relationship with this
form of DRM.

~~~
forkLding
Protests in china are regulated by the government similar to other protests in
USA where you usually notify local governments about the land you are on and
have to ask for approval in some manner. If protests are approved, then they
can be held which is what happens in China.

Thus documenting a protest in China that is legal would not be censored on
Chinese media, however documenting an illegal protest and then broadcasting it
on Chinese media is pretty risky as the government can crackdown on it much
easier.

Moreover, Chinese government can censor footage about protests if it goes
against their wishes so in the end it doesn't really matter.

~~~
boombip
Does the Chinese government often approve such protests? What would they allow
their citizens to protest?

~~~
jeron
I don't think there's really approval for protests, but "The majority of
protests in China concern local grievances, such as the corruption of county-
or township-level government or Communist Party officials, exploitation by
employers, excessive taxation, and so on. Protests targeting specific, local
grievances, and where citizens propose actionable remedies, are more likely to
succeed than alternative forms of protests."

source:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protest_and_dissent_in_China](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protest_and_dissent_in_China)

~~~
forkLding
Those protests are cracked down on, im talking about these:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_China_anti-
Japanese_demon...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_China_anti-
Japanese_demonstrations)

These are usually broadcasted openly on the Chinese internet and allowed by
the Chinese government. Like I'm of Chinese ethnicity and I occasionally see
Chinese news, these are the only protests put on Chinese State news that you
can see because it forwards Chinese govt. agenda.

EDIT: Note that a BBC News article about it says that "The BBC's Martin
Patience in Beijing says the outbreak of protests was almost certainly
sanctioned by the Chinese authorities, as they were well policed."

[http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-19312226](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-
asia-19312226)

If there is police allowed around a protest in China, it usually is legal

------
eps
Apparently it's "offline" as in "not phoning home to the company's
headquarters at will."

Not "offline" as in "radio silent during a flight."

~~~
forgotmysn
well it would be kinda difficult to control a remote-controlled drone if it's
completely radio silent.

~~~
eps
DJIs can fly along a programmed path.

~~~
baddox
GPS signals are radio waves, but they are read-only.

~~~
Nexxxeh
I wonder what level of accuracy they could manage with dead reckoning?

~~~
njharman
Unless there is no wind at all, pretty poor.

~~~
milankragujevic
Couldn't it use a camera pointed towards the ground and track objects on the
ground to measure absolute movement in space? Like Parrot's drones do.
Probably DJI drones as well, since they have ground-facing camera(s).

~~~
pjc50
Sure, although it would then be misleading to describe it as "dead reckoning"
when it's actually some kind of SLAM system.

------
samfisher83
For the price I don't know if DJI has any competition. The p3s is about 350
bucks and I don't think there is any drone at that price point that is
competitive. Maybe the xiaomi drone, but they don't have US warranty. 3DR is
out of drones. The other brands just don't work as well with the same range,
gimbal etc. There is really no competition to the Mavic.

~~~
dchuk
I just upgraded from the P3S to the Mavic actually. While a good starter
drone, the P3S is inferior to the other models in quite a few ways, so I'd
recommend anyone interested in a drone to just save up a few more bucks and
buy the Mavic or maybe a P4 Advanced. Biggest difference is that the Standard
uses normal 2.4ghz wifi for remote -> phone -> drone communication, so it gets
interfered with heavily and has a very reduced range because of that
(comparatively, the Mavic can like miles while the Standard you'd be really
pushing it at just a mile).

The Mavic is a ridiculously cool little device, so much better for traveling
too.

~~~
prawn
While I haven't owned any other drone to compare, I think the Mavic is quite
incredible - the combination of compactness and ability is brilliant. Being
able to take something in a small pack that can fly kilometres away and handle
quite windy weather is really useful if you enjoy documenting your trips or
just having an excuse to get out and about more.

It's not a drone-specific account, but I put up a few photos and videos here:
[https://www.instagram.com/isaacforman/](https://www.instagram.com/isaacforman/)

~~~
dchuk
Nice! You have some great shots on there.

Here's my account:
[https://www.instagram.com/dronechuk](https://www.instagram.com/dronechuk)

~~~
prawn
Must be great having access to such photogenic territory. I like this kind of
understated scenery!

[https://www.instagram.com/p/BWqzeMqBziz/?taken-
by=dronechuk](https://www.instagram.com/p/BWqzeMqBziz/?taken-by=dronechuk)

I bought my drone while in the US and first flew it in Utah, but not enough.
Misunderstood the settings on one of the early flights and it drifted into a
tree - that scared me off further flights until I got home!

~~~
dchuk
yeah all the different settings can be a little overwhelming. I'm constantly
in awe I'm able to take photos of stuff that basically ten years ago+ you
needed a damn helicopter for.

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pasta
Is this related to this? [http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2017/08/us-
army-just-or...](http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2017/08/us-army-just-
ordered-soldiers-stop-using-drones-chinas-dji/139999/)

 _" An Aug. 2 memo cites 'increased awareness of cyber vulnerabilities' with
drones from China’s market-leading DJI."_

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kfriede
Maybe I'm missing something here, but wouldn't the best "offline mode" be to
never connect a sensitive phone/tablet to any internet-facing network?

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dave_sullivan
Maybe... There are a lot of non-China + reasonable comments there, but
anything related to China is too close to the party line and framed in such a
way as to suggest they know how to frame propaganda well. I find it hard to
believe that China (like Russia) isn't conducting a "spread propaganda through
comments" campaign and has not identified HN as a key opinionmaker in the tech
industry.

~~~
sctb
Please don't bring accusations of shillage or astroturfing without evidence.
It always weakens the discussion terribly.

We detached this subthread from
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15017451](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15017451)
and marked it off-topic.

~~~
jacquesm
Thank you Scott.

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ahugebeach
Drones seem like they need to be more regulated maybe by the FAA.

~~~
seanp2k2
Hobbyists have had FPV in RC planes and helis for 10+ years, but it's easy now
so everyone is doing it. You don't need to know how to solder, program
transmitters, cobble together TX/RX equipment, have a ham license, etc etc
etc. There wasn't a problem before, because the types of people who would
cause problems and do stupid stuff didn't generally have the patience / skills
to get it working to the point that they could actually do damage with it.
It's cool that this is a more accessible hobby now, but kids being kids
without the adult supervision that would have come with affording, designing,
acquiring, assembling, and flying + operating such a device is gone with cheap
drones + the internet.

I think that regulating it will be bad for hobbyists. Drones are already
banned in national parks and some city / county parks (shame since there's an
entire category of "park flyers" and few AMA RC flying fields in the Bay
Area). I've given up on RC flight for now, but drone racing in warehouses and
parks seems insanely fun.

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valuearb
Does anyone think that the NSA doesn't already have surveillance software
embedded in DJI firmware?

~~~
SeoxyS
You think the NSA can convince a mainland Chinese company to install backdoors
for Americans? Seriously dubious…

~~~
jacquesm
No, but they might be able to convince the guy that flashes the firmware. That
would be cheaper anyway.

