Free Republic

Recently two different security firms were hired to reverse-engineer and analyze DJI drone software available for use on Android devices. DJI is one of the largest drone manufacturers in the world and is based in China. What the analysts found were features hidden in the software that send a bunch of technical information back to Chinese servers, most of it information that has no connection to flying drones. As Ars Technica reports, the worse case scenario here is that the app is spying on users: Two weeks ago, security firm Synacktiv reverse-engineered the app. On Thursday, fellow security firm...

Almost three years ago, Iran reportedly downed a US drone. The RQ-170 Sentinel recon drone that was reportedly captured has apparently been reverse-engineered, and now, as Reuters reports, Iran state news agency IRNA reports the drone-clone has taken its first flight. Iran's Supreme Leader noted, "Today is a very sweet and unforgettable day for me." Of course, this 'news' should be taken with a modest pinch of salt but, as with everything in foreign policy these days, Brigadier General Ali Hajizadeh states that "a film of the flight will be released soon."  The clip of the downed drone from 2011......

Iranian Copy of U.S. Unmanned Stealth Aircraft is a Fake By: Dave Majumdar Published: May 12, 2014 4:37 PM Updated: May 12, 2014 5:37 PM So-called Iranian version of the RQ-170. Iran claims it was able to reverse engineer the stealthy unmanned aerial vehicle. FARS News Service Photo Iran’s purported reverse-engineered copies of the Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel unmanned aircraft are nothing but cheap mockups, industry sources told USNI News. The Iranian state-owned Fars News Agency reported that the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) showed off a modified version of the stealthy RQ-170 at an aerospace exhibition in Tehran on...

The Iranian military says that it has fully reverse engineered a downed U.S. drone and armed it with missiles "to attack the U.S. warships in any possible battle." The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) made the announcement on Sunday as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei toured an IRGC military compound to view the new drones, according to reports in Iran's state-run media.

Increasingly irate over a delayed arms deal, Iran has threatened to manufacture an advanced missile system itself if Russia does not deliver it to Tehran soon. The warning, sounded by Alaeddin Bouroujerdi, a senior Iranian lawmaker, was the latest in a series of threats by Iranian officials angered at Russia for delaying delivery a much-vaunted missile sales agreement. "Iran is not a country to come to a halt in the face of non-cooperation of other countries," Bouroujerdi was quoted as saying in a local newspaper. "Naturally, and in light of Iran's capabilities, it will be able to produce missile defense...

"Opening the Open-Source Debate" The Alexis de Tocqueville Institution (AdTI) has finally published its white paper entitled "Opening the Open Source Debate". My earlier comments were based on media reports and e-mail correspondence with the paper's author. This document was written after I read the actual white paper. (The original link seems not to work; I managed to grab a copy of the paper before AdTI pulled it. This link may work.) The AdTI's very weak and poorly-researched paper opens no debate. It simply confirms that Microsoft paid AdTI to come up with something---anything---to stem the growing adoption of open-source...