DJI Mavic Series

China-based drone maker DJI has a history of not being good when it comes to privacy and security. Researchers raised concerns in 2020 about vulnerabilities in the Android app that control some DJI consumer drones and reportedly collect large amounts of personal data. If that data were leaked, they warned, it could then be exploited by the Chinese government. Currently, many government entities, including the United States military and the Dutch Ministry of Defense ban the drones, while it seems the FBI and Dutch police still purchase these drones. It all seems quite messy and rather scary.

Owning an insecure flying camera could present some problems for civilians too. Reading the DJI privacy policy does raise some flags for us, as they do seem to collect a good deal of personal information and while they say they don’t sell it, they do say they might share it with third parties for a number of purposes, including advertising.

Then there is the other privacy concern surrounding all drones — using them to spy on people in their own homes or in public spaces from afar. The new Mavic 3 has a 28x super zoom lense that could let someone record video up close and personal from far away. That’s pretty scary.

So buyer beware. Having the potential for personal information on your phone to be leaked to unknown sources who might exploit it, yeah, that's a really bad thing. Uncertainty if these drones are secure, another bad thing. Using these drones to spy on unsuspecting people, a really bad thing. All in all, we’re worried these DJI Mavic drones come with *privacy not included.