What Happens With Our Flight Information?

[Erised]

I live a little over 7 miles from an airport and I always get a message that I am close to a NFZ and to proceed with caution. I have flown in other areas with the same type of warning and that's good. I appreciate GEO heads up on the area I am in, GO app draws a circle around the NFZ zone on the map, I find it is a good tool for me. I have never heard of dji sharing info even when people screw up.

 

[hummingbirdaerialstudio]

Can flight logs be backed up so you can clear them from the GoApp to free space?


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

 

[BruceGC]

When I go into the DJI App I can see a little "Tower" icon on the top left side and see it shows EVERY flight I've ever taken.

It's really cool and I like looking through all the memories and stats...but does DJI share that with anyone?

I love the feature but don't want that information shared with anyone - any idea if it's just visible to me?

Thanks!

If you are in a request permission area, all you need to do is contact the control tower. Give them a call. They will be glad you did. As long as you tell them what you are doing, how long you will be up, usually they will be fine.

 

[Phantom4Flyer]

I'm new to all of this - flying a little Hubsan, and considering a Phantom.

Before I retired, I worked on defense systems, so maybe I'm a little paranoid, but I don't like the idea of anyone collecting data on where I am and when. I know we live in a digital world, where data is collected all the time, but if I have an ability to control what can be collected, I want to know it. Is there a way to use the Phantom, planning and executing flights, WITHOUT sending the flight log data anywhere (i.e. your data never leaves your quad copter or computer)? Can you do your planning and operation offline??? TIA

 

[Phantom4Flyer]

I'm new to all of this - flying a little Hubsan, and considering a Phantom.

Before I retired, I worked on defense systems, so maybe I'm a little paranoid, but I don't like the idea of anyone collecting data on where I am and when. I know we live in a digital world, where data is collected all the time, but if I have an ability to control what can be collected, I want to know it. Is there a way to use the Phantom, planning and executing flights, WITHOUT sending the flight log data anywhere (i.e. your data never leaves your quad copter or computer)? Can you do your planning and operation offline??? TIA

Anybody?

 

[Meta4]

I'm new to all of this - flying a little Hubsan, and considering a Phantom.

Before I retired, I worked on defense systems, so maybe I'm a little paranoid, but I don't like the idea of anyone collecting data on where I am and when. I know we live in a digital world, where data is collected all the time, but if I have an ability to control what can be collected, I want to know it. Is there a way to use the Phantom, planning and executing flights, WITHOUT sending the flight log data anywhere (i.e. your data never leaves your quad copter or computer)? Can you do your planning and operation offline??? TIA

You get the prize for patience ... longest wait for an answer.
When you fly, your Phantom is only communicating with your controller. It's not relaying information to any other party.
No-one else knows where you flew or when unless they are nearby and see you flying or you send the flight log to them.
You have the ability to upload flight data to DJI if you choose but you don't have to at all.

You can also upload flight data to Phantomhelp (run by one of our members) if ever you have an incident and want to see what happened to learn from the experience.
Having investigated many such problem flights and seen the actual data that the App records, I wouldn't be very worried even if the data was transmitted from the Phantom.

 

[Phantom4Flyer]

First, thanks for your prompt response.

No-one else knows where you flew or when unless ...you send the flight log to them.
You have the ability to upload flight data to DJI if you choose but you don't have to at all.

How would you send only the data for a given flight?
Wouldn't they be able to get your flight data as a part of doing a firmware update?

Check out page 8, Data Storage and Usage, in the Disclaimer and Safety Guidelines one of those booklets that hardly anybody really reads. This essentially allows DJI to share your data with anyone, even if it doesn't explicitly say so. It talks about automatically or manually uploaded, but doesn't describe how "automatic" works (i.e., what and when). It says nothing about how the user can preclude ANY upload. If they really had respect for YOUR data, they'd let you opt out.

You can also upload flight data to Phantomhelp (run by one of our members) if ever you have an incident and want to see what happened to learn from the experience.
Having investigated many such problem flights and seen the actual data that the App records, I wouldn't be very worried even if the data was transmitted from the Phantom.

Phantomhelp is really nice, but as I recall reading on that web site, they too can share your data with many parties, including drone manufacturers.

I also recall reading on this forum about some data in the internal storage being encrypted by DJI...not very reassuring.

I'm not interested in hacking the drone to steal their IP, but I don't want them to treat MY operational data as their own.

 

[Meta4]

How would you send only the data for a given flight?
Wouldn't they be able to get your flight data as a part of doing a firmware update?

Check out page 8, Data Storage and Usage, in the Disclaimer and Safety Guidelines one of those booklets that hardly anybody really reads. This essentially allows DJI to share your data with anyone, even if it doesn't explicitly say so. It talks about automatically or manually uploaded, but doesn't describe how "automatic" works (i.e., what and when). It says nothing about how the user can preclude ANY upload. If they really had respect for YOUR data, they'd let you opt out.

Phantomhelp is really nice, but as I recall reading on that web site, they too can share your data with many parties, including drone manufacturers.
I also recall reading on this forum about some data in the internal storage being encrypted by DJI...not very reassuring.

I'm not interested in hacking the drone to steal their IP, but I don't want them to treat MY operational data as their own.

You highlight the flight record in question and click the cloud icon on the flight records page of the app.
No DJI don't steal your precious flight data during a firmware update.
Yes, I have checked out the disclaimer and it's just like lots of disclaimers that cover all sorts of bases.
If you really have a good reason to keep your flight data to yourself, that's fine and you don't have to share it with anyone.

I'd be surprised if @msinger shares flight data with anyone that uploads to https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/
But having seen flight data from lots of people's flights, I really can's see there being anything of any use to anyone in the flight data or anything you would need to keep secret.
data from a typical flight shows where and when you took off, flew and landed.
It contains GPS data showing the Phantom's location throughout the flight and data from the sensors - speed, direction GPS count, battery etc.
Nothing particularly embarrassing or sensitive but lots of very useful data if you lose a Phantom and want to find out what happened to it and where it might have ended up.
The Phantom has an internal flight data recorder too that DJI can use to assess warranty claims.
It contains the same data plus more detail of motor speed data etc.
Perhaps DJI encrypt it to protect the integrity of the data that can be used for warranty claims.
I can't think of any reason to be concerned about that.

And if you really want to keep your flight data secret for your own reasons ... you don't have to share it with anyone.

 

[Phantom4Flyer]

You highlight the flight record in question and click the cloud icon on the flight records page of the app.
No DJI don't steal your precious flight data during a firmware update.
Yes, I have checked out the disclaimer and it's just like lots of disclaimers that cover all sorts of bases.
If you really have a good reason to keep your flight data to yourself, that's fine and you don't have to share it with anyone.

I'd be surprised if @msinger shares flight data with anyone that uploads to DJI Flight Log Viewer
But having seen flight data from lots of people's flights, I really can's see there being anything of any use to anyone in the flight data or anything you would need to keep secret.
data from a typical flight shows where and when you took off, flew and landed.
It contains GPS data showing the Phantom's location throughout the flight and data from the sensors - speed, direction GPS count, battery etc.
Nothing particularly embarrassing or sensitive but lots of very useful data if you lose a Phantom and want to find out what happened to it and where it might have ended up.
The Phantom has an internal flight data recorder too that DJI can use to assess warranty claims.
It contains the same data plus more detail of motor speed data etc.
Perhaps DJI encrypt it to protect the integrity of the data that can be used for warranty claims.
I can't think of any reason to be concerned about that.

And if you really want to keep your flight data secret for your own reasons ... you don't have to share it with anyone.

Thanks for your reply. The concern is not any single piece of data, but rather the aggregation of it, AND integration of it with other data. I agree that the collection of detailed flight logs is very helpful, especially if something goes wrong.

I did some more homework on this topic, and came across two interesting articles in sUAS News:
A Global Information Gathering Network for UAS - DJI data collection - sUAS News - The Business of Drones, which directly addresses the issues I've raised, and
US Army calls for units to discontinue use of DJI equipment - sUAS News - The Business of Drones, which details how the US Army is dealing with DJI products.

Does anyone know if a packet analysis has been done on the DJI software to see exactly what is going on?