'We're Not Being Paranoid': U.S. Warns Of Spy Dangers Of Chinese-Made Drones
Drones have become an increasingly popular tool for industry and government. Electric utilities use them to inspect transmission lines. Oil companies fly them over pipelines. The Interior Department even deployed them to track lava flows at Hawaii's Kilauea volcano.
But the Department of Homeland Security is warning that drones manufactured by Chinese companies could pose security risks, including that the data they gather could be stolen.
The department sent out an alert on the subject on May 20, and a video on its website notes that drones in general pose multiple threats, including "their potential use for terrorism, mass casualty incidents, interference with air traffic, as well as corporate espionage and invasions of privacy." "We're not being paranoid," the video's narrator adds.
Related: Department of Homeland Security Terror Bulletin Warns of "Weaponized Drones"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Thursday May 30 2019, @02:05AM (2 children)
Or you are wrong.
R&D is expensive and uncertain. Having a government-backed hacking operation to steal trade secrets for your company is a big help. The economic entanglement between the West and China only gives it more opportunities to steal information.
You can't even fault China for this. It's the smart move, and they are largely getting away with it.
That's not to say that China can't do it on their own [nytimes.com], but the Iceeu Pee theft is part of a winning strategy.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 30 2019, @02:18PM
"Trade secrets," should not be the issue unless one is concerned about hacking or more conventional forms of business espionage. I acknowledge this is exactly what you're aiming at, but this isn't the issue at hand here.
This is basically government panic about the way drones can be used.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday May 30 2019, @05:43PM
It is karma. The United States industrialized so quickly by stealing trade secrets from the British back in the day.
There must be a significant cultural component to the ability to internalize them, though. American companies have outsourced manufacturing to Mexico, also, but that country is in no way on its way to becoming anything but another level of basket case.
Washington DC delenda est.