As some of you know, my fear of flying drones is that it will land in a backyard of a drone-hating serial killer who will find out where I live and come kill me and my family. That's the reason I don't put any contact info (name, email, phone #, etc.) on my drone. I'm also not going to register with the FAA (which is completely optional btw) or put any registration # on the drones. That's because the serial killer will be able to find out where I live from that registration # since it will be completely searchable, name, address and all. Also the serial killer could have friends in the FAA, who knows?
So, you would think that would be safe enough, but you would be wrong! Dead wrong. That's because inside the Phantom is a secret, hidden micro SD card that acts like a black box, recording everything that you do. I am very alarmed that DJI has now made it very hard to delete the data on micro SD. Since the update from GO 2.4 to 2.4.1, DJI has remove the option to "format data recorder" from the app. Why, you wonder? Read on.
You may not realize this, but the micro SD can hold 100s of all your flights. Anybody with access to the micro SD can view all your flights and see how high you flew (over 400ft?) or how many times you flew over a serial killer's house, spying on him. But it's just not the flight. The moment you turn your bird on, the GPS data is recorded. So, if you turn your bird on at home, the serial killer will able to pinpoint your exact location and come kill you and your family.
So what you have to do to protect you and your family is:
1. don't put any contact info on your bird
2. don't register with the FAA
3. do something about the micro SD card
I can help you with #3. It's hidden in the battery compartment and is glued in so it will be complicated to remove and you'll probably have to remove the shell. But there's an easier way. All you have to do is enter the flight data mode and erase everything there. Then, fill the card with a dummy file. Make sure it's completely filled so that NO data can be written. You will get MC Data error, but don't worry, it doesn't affect anything, just no data can be written on the card and you're safe from the serial killer and fly wherever you wish with no consequences whatsoever. No serial will ever be able to track you if you crashed into his yard or car.
*disclaimer*
please fly responsibly and take responsibility for your actions