DJI drones have been banned in the United States for a while now. The company's hardware, along with other foreign-made drones, was declared verboten by the FCC in the name of national security… and MAYBE to ensure that American drone companies, say like the one owned by Trump's sons, could have a chance to make some money.
I guess the People's Republic of China feels that the Trump boys could stand to pad out their bank accounts as well. China, one of the most surveillance-saturated nations in the world, has declared that the use or storage of drones within the borders of its capital city is no longer allowed.
China's new clampdown on drone sales and even the storage of drone components within the capital of Beijing stands out in a country that effectively built the global market for affordable commercial drones. The unprecedented citywide rules taking effect on May 1 come as authorities tighten drone regulations across the country and enforce flight restrictions more strictly.
Chinese officials are refining drone regulations because "enforcement and rules have been uneven or unclear," said Lizzi C. Lee, a fellow on the Chinese economy at the Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis in New York City. Now it appears that Beijing officials are "experimenting with a more comprehensive, front-end approach" by implementing the citywide ban on drone sales and rentals—not to mention restricting the storage of drones and drone components within the city.
This clampdown has been coming for a while. The Associated Press says that in the weeks leading up to China's drone ban, drones and drone components have been damn near impossible for the nation's consumers to buy online, while brick-and-mortar locations have been struggling to rid themselves of their stock. What's more, earlier this month, it was reported in the New York Times that some Chinese drone users have received calls from the police, moments after simply powering their drones up. Crazy.
In countries shackled by authoritarianism, citizens having access to the truth is the greatest risk to those who hold power. By taking the tools of observation out of the hands of those citizens, the powers-that-we've-allowed-to-be make it just a little harder for us to see what's actually going on.
