DJI GO App and Your Privacy

[chapsrlz]

If there's a DJI employee sitting in China that's so bored that he's going to pick out my flying data and look at my coordinates or whatever info they've got–amongst the 1,000,000,000 other Phantom owners that are flying every day–to see where I've flown, then so be it.

Maybe I'll wave at him the next time I do a hand-catch.

Perhaps he can even figure out who Sagebrush really is.

Sagebrush

dude...
data is everything, its not about an employee sitting in china watching you. its about databases and information with your habits, where do you go, what sites you visit, where are you eating, what you wrote in your messages, well yours and from a million other users...

thats what facebook, twitter, google, amazon, etc are selling ;-)

 

[Erised]

Like many others posted if you have apps and a cell phone and read the 4 pages of stuff you agreed to they can pretty mutch do what they want, even open your mic and camera on your phone. Big bother can watch most of us and yes you are one in a billion+. Privacy is just an illusion. Sucks and theres not mutch we can do about it.

 

[Sagebrush]

dude...
data is everything, its not about an employee sitting in china watching you. its about databases and information with your habits, where do you go, what sites you visit, where are you eating, what you wrote in your messages, well yours and from a million other users...

thats what facebook, twitter, google, amazon, etc are selling ;-)

I get that. The moral of the story, unless one wants to live off-grid, it's the way it is.

Sagebrush

 

[noki49]

When I looked the other day it brought up a few near me in Manchester, and when clicking on them, most appeared to link to addresses in relatively built up areas, with street names and house numbers. I did wonder if it was listing addresses of phantom owners. When I tried later, it wouldn't load the map, so I wondered if they had realised their mistake and pulled it, but when I just tried now it's still listing what appear to be home addresses.
Very worrying.

 

[ianwood]

All the apps are spying. When you get a phone you sell your soul to Apple or Google.
I'm not on Facebook or twitter. But those apps are using my data. Even with a firewall.
Need to be rooted to have effective firewall.They update all the time. I can stop then, but they start up on their own. I can not uninstall them.
Install a new app and it wants permission for everything.

Never wonder why the apps are free? Because they get money for your data.
DJI is just working their own angle.

This is a gross oversimplification and mostly wrong. I can't be bothered to explain the differences but in this case, what DJI is doing is egregious.

 

[chapsrlz]

This is a gross oversimplification and mostly wrong. I can't be bothered to explain the differences but in this case, what DJI is doing is egregious.

totally agree,
specially since they are doing it without letting the user know it.

 

[phantom1972]

I might just be suffering a paranoid "recollection" of something that isn't there, BUT: When you say switch the max altitude above 100', in addition to the general warning, isn't there a veiled threat mentioning records are uploaded to DJI servers? This just rings a bell. I don't have anything handy to look at the moment.

I hate to think of DJI as the police, but the day after an official FAA regulation (law) goes into affect, saying 400' max altitude is the law of the land, can we expect a firmware upgrade? If not, how about the FAA asking for the records for everyone that's exceeded 400' AGL?

In certain of the most majestic areas of the country, it's very mountainous. People have been crippled in these areas by the 1,500' limit. 400' is AGL, and in some areas the terrain altitude changes by that much instantly.

 

[Trackman1]

This is a gross oversimplification and mostly wrong. I can't be bothered to explain the differences but in this case, what DJI is doing is egregious.

I can tell you without a doubt that facebook and twitter are exchanging data on my phone and I have never used either one or installed.
They are not the only ones. But they are apps I never use.

Put a firewall in your phone and just look at the requests to go out.

 

[Vampirate13]

Sounds like Apple is giving them some corp pointers

 

[Meta4]

I hate to think of DJI as the police, but the day after an official FAA regulation (law) goes into affect, saying 400' max altitude is the law of the land, can we expect a firmware upgrade? If not, how about the FAA asking for the records for everyone that's exceeded 400' AGL?

In certain of the most majestic areas of the country, it's very mountainous. People have been crippled in these areas by the 1,500' limit. 400' is AGL, and in some areas the terrain altitude changes by that much instantly.

Relax.
For a start, your Phantom has no way of recording your height AGL.

 

[m0j0]

I wouldn't be surprised if the GO App simultaneously feeds Fed databases.

It doesn't...


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[Apilot101]

It doesn't...


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app

.....at least not until the next few update. Lol

 

[ianwood]

Sounds like Apple is giving them some corp pointers

Compared to what DJI is doing, Apple looks like the holy saint of data privacy.

 

[Phantom751874]

Compared to what DJI is doing, Apple looks like the holy saint of data privacy.

You meant "compared to what DJi is doing Google and Facebook look like the holy saints of data privacy"?

 

[ianwood]

You meant "compared to what DJi is doing Google and Facebook look like the holy saints of data privacy"?

I wouldn't include Facebook in there. They are as transparent as dirt. They've tried many times to push the limit. Google is the opposite. They tell you exactly what and how they use your data. No surprises.

Then there's DJI. Collecting your flight data without you knowing and then funneling it to third parties and other products for profit. And that's after you already paid for the product. Google and Facebook are free.

 

[ph37rd]

I always joke with friends that all that personal info they post on facebook is making the NSA's job much easier than it used to be when they had to tap your telephone. Now all of us DJI customers are unwittingly helping create Skynet. Sarah Connor's gonna be pissed.

Seriously though...I've never seen this level of privacy invasion by a corporation without any opt-out option. It's disturbing.

If you like reality based fiction and espionage, read Brad Thor's book, "Black List" (not the TV show). While the work is fiction, it is based on reality and he does provide sources on his website. It will give you insight on just what is collected, how and potential uses, maybe not by DJI, but others.

 

[RocketBrew]

This is an interesting look into some of the things being done with all the data collected about us every minute we are not in a cave. The Human Face of Big Data


Watch Full Episodes Online of The Human Face of Big Data on PBS | Revealing Worlds

 

[Jerry T.]

Meta4 said there was no way that our height we flew at was recorded. The new Go app shows the top altitude on the Flight Records as plain as day. So yes the highest you have flown is stored and accessible by DJI.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[jbwill]

The DJI disclaimer is just letters (love the way they signed it, DJI Headquaters), they are in China, they do as they want. Who's gonna come get 'em, no one.

 

[Meta4]

Meta4 said there was no way that our height we flew at was recorded. The new Go app shows the top altitude on the Flight Records as plain as day. So yes the highest you have flown is stored and accessible by DJI.

What I said was that the Phantom does not know your height AGL .. (above ground level)
It only knows how high you are above your launch point.
If you are out on the prairies that might be the same thing.
But there are plenty of locations with topography that can mean they are very different numbers.