Connecticut DJI drone ban stalls as company ups data safety info

Police, fire, emergency response units, and other official agencies in Connecticut will be able to continue operating their DJI drones in the line of duty, after a proposal to ban their use failed to pass a legislative deadline Thursday.

Connecticut lawmakers pushed to pass a raft of bills facing expiration when the state’s legislative session ended Thursday, with a measure containing the proposed ban on DJI drones being among those not voted through in time. The text called for prohibiting state and municipal agencies from operating the craft based on thus far entirely unsubstantiated allegations that they can leak data to government servers in China. 

Those allegations have been made to justify similar bans by federal agencies and four US states, despite there being very little evidence of third party interception of data from DJI drones – and nothing to suggest transmissions from the craft went to Chinese servers. 

They’re also the grounds for the current Countering CCP Drones Act moving through the US House of Representatives, which seeks de facto prohibition of using DJI drones in the country by anybody – including enterprise and individual pilots.

Florida, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee have all imposed legal blacklisting of DJI drones in official operations. Similar attempts by other states and cities, however, have fallen to opposition from public safety and first responder who described the UAVs as both secure and vital to their work.

While those same objections were voiced against the proposed Connecticut bill – which earlier in the week won approval by the state’s Senate – it stalled in the push to clear it in the state’s House in time.

Ironically, while anti-DJI measures elsewhere have usually relied on mass Republican support, often with some degree of backing from Democrats as well, this time it was opposition from Connecticut GOP legislators that prevented the text from being voted on in time.

DJI, which has repeatedly refuted the data leakage allegations, is now fighting what it views as a purely protectionist ban campaign with online assets informing users how to enhance the security of their craft. 

Last month, it launched its DJI Trust Center to help customers worried by the allegation to further safeguard their UAVs. The web asset contains a list of, and tutorials on how to use the privacy controls available to the company’s consumer or enterprise drone users. 

It also includes DJI’s Drone Security White Paper outlining the built-in security protections and additional configuration enhancements the craft feature. Those same precautions – which include options to prevent UAVs from transmitting data wirelessly – were cited by first responders opposing bans in Connecticut and other states as reasons why they feel certain the UAVs present no security risks.

DJI’s head of global policy, Adam Welsh, said that kind of testimony is now being highlighted by the company itself, with the Trust Center serving as a security guide to users and de facto rebuttal to past, current, and future allegations aired by company detractors without proof.

“DJI has invested in drone safety and security… (which)  is why our customers continue to trust and choose our products,” Welsh said when the informational service was launched. “We developed the DJI Trust Center to provide our customers with the accurate resources they need to fully understand and optimize the expansive range of privacy controls and security information available to them. This is core to our promise to customers: you control your data.”