djiSeveral years ago, Chinese tech company Huawei was accused by the US government as manufacturing phones that spied on the US on China’s behalf, and claim that the company has since vehemently denied. Last year, another Chinese company ZTE was also accused, leading to trade restrictions.
Now it seems that according to a report from The New York Times, Chinese drone maker DJI is being accused of spying for China, or at least that’s what Homeland Security is alleging. In a memo obtained by The New York Times, was written back in August and alleges that DJI was collecting sensitive data from its drones in the US and sharing it with the Chinese government.
The memo mentions that DJI is apparently targeting the military, law enforcement, and infrastructure builders, all of which would help China plan and launch better physical and cyber attacks should it ever come to that. We have to wonder if the memo had something to do with the military announcing (also back in August) that they would cease the use of DJI drones immediately.
Unsurprisingly DJI is denying those claims, which they say are based on “clearly false and misleading claims”. The company’s statement reads, “The allegations in the bulletin are so profoundly wrong as a factual matter that ICE should consider withdrawing it, or at least correcting its unsupportable assertions.”