alt Hacker NewsSeeing how drone warfare has become the new hot front in 21st century conflicts like Ukraine, it's hard not to speculate on the implications of this as political unrest continues to rise in the U.S.
It's no secret that the current U.S. regime views a sizeable portion of its own civilian citizens as enemy combatants. They are already shooting people in the face and not even putting up a pretense of acting shocked at the act. Historically, it is easier to win elections than revolutions; limiting access to game-changing technology puts the power advantage even more firmly in the corner of the regime.
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Interesting that so many here are speculating that this ban is to stop "freedom fighters" in the US and not the obvious case that the US has wanted to reduce dependence on China in areas of critical technology.
Drones are not going away in the US, they will just not be made by their primary political adversary. Let's not be hyperbolic, the US is nowhere close to having a revolution or civil War. People need to stop getting their primary world view from doom scrolling instagram or reddit.
Agreed. They can’t control the narrative if journalists and activists can observe brutal state violence against citizens with their pocket drones.
I picked up an older DJI model in December and am super glad I did with recent events.
You don't need a revolution narrative to criticize this ban. It's already bad policy on its own merits: it freezes innovation, hurts hobbyists and small businesses etc
Probably so. Having the software and hardware built in the US facilitate installation of backdoors. This comes handy to control the population just at the moment when the population feels they had an hedge over ICE, the regime, etc.
My takeaway is that all previous U.S. administrations had pretense of morality and rules in both international and domestic politics (even when they did dubious stuff). The new administration has realized that there is no need for such pretense to stay in power. Previously Venezuelan attack would have been about "democracy" and "freedom" and "peace". Trump has made it clear that it is for oil.
Overall it is probably better for the world society in general that pretense is gone and the realpolitics is laid bare. The risks are no longer ambiguous but real and clearly stated and the world can plan mitigation accordingly.
Maybe, or maybe it’s just good policy to not import a network of drones from an adversary to democracies across the world, which includes the EU most importantly as China helps Russia with its invasion of Ukraine and is gearing up for some activity in Taiwan.
People can just record all this stuff on their iPhones that they already have. You don’t need a DJI drone to record police malfeasance. Maybe you do in China or Iran though. In Iran they are just mowing people down. In China you get disappeared. Interesting that there are no protests about those things though. I guess they just have better social media marketing.
> They are already shooting people in the face and not even putting up a pretense of acting shocked at the act.
Are you talking about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Justine_Damond? Yes her killer got off with a slap on the wrist, but even in 2017 when that happened it was nothing new - there have been plenty of unjustified or dubious police killings before and since [1], so I'm confused by that "already" in your sentence - nothing has changed, has it?
[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/polic...
Ah yes I'm sure it has nothing to do with the drones running closed proprietary software via OTA updates, with encrypted data connections back to China, while being outfitted with 8k cameras, gps, lidar, etc.
It's no secret that VC's are profiting massively from this administration. And all comments critical of the current regime are getting downvoted on HN. Something adds up.
Trump will be gone in 3 years. Maybe fewer depending on his health. It's unlikely that this change will have any meaningful effect on US democracy.
On the other hand, little drones are effectively munitions now. That means drone manufacturing capacity is effectively munitions manufacturing capacity. We're giving potential adversaries economies of scale building things that may be used to kill us.
I'm generally a pretty free market guy but the war in Ukraine has changed some things. My main complaint with this law is that it is so US focused; I'd be fine with drones built in Europe or Japan or other allied nations.
I wouldn’t call DJI game-changing technology anymore.
We have a very healthy FPV community here in the states perfectly capable of building drones from parts just like Ukraine is doing.
Merely the documentary function of small drones is a threat to the current US government - their game changing effect on the battlefield in Ukraine is (one hopes) less relevant here. Just the threat of people taking pictures of what's happening is enough for them to restrict flight over an entire large city when ICE moves in.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2025/10/02/faa-drone-zone-...