GoKawiilis a senior editor and founding member of The Verge who covers gadgets, games, and toys. He spent 15 years editing the likes of CNET, Gizmodo, and Engadget.
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DJI ban: how the world’s biggest dronemaker is getting shoved out of the US
But it appears the FCC is finally doing something about “DJI front companies,” as watcher Konrad Iturbe dubbed them last year. Today, the FCC is fining eight of them $25,000 each — and giving them until Monday, July 20th, just 10 calendar days, to answer the FCC’s questions before the agency takes further action.
Those companies include Cogito Tech, Fixaxo Technology, Lyno Dynamics, Skyhigh Tech, Spatial Hover, SZ Knowact (the company behind Skyrover), WaveGo Tech, and Xtra Technology. All are being fined because they didn’t answer the FCC’s letters to begin with.
In order to import, sell, and market any gadget in the United States that uses radio frequencies, you need the FCC to authorize that device’s radios — but on December 22nd, the FCC added all foreign drone companies to its Covered List, which keeps the FCC from issuing authorizations to those companies because of supposed national security risks.
Last year, the FCC also gave itself the power to retroactively ban products that have already made it through its authorization process, even if they only contain components from a banned company. It doesn’t need to be a drone: if a camera contains a DJI radio transmitter, the FCC could ban it from sale, import, and marketing in the US.
This spring, the FCC began asking each of these companies whether they’re marketing radio equipment in the United States that belongs on the Covered List, and so far not a single one has replied.
The Verge, too, repeatedly asked DJI last year to confirm whether it had relationships with several of these companies, and reached out to many of the companies individually without getting answers. DJI would not confirm or deny whether Xtra and Skyrover, for example, are DJI products in disguise. When we tested the Xtra camera against the DJI one, we found it too identical to even be considered a “clone.”
The FCC is also seemingly crediting that Verge story in its investigation, which is nice to see:
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