The FCC chair will speak at CES. Will he address the DJI drone ban?

CES is usually the place for big tech news, but this year’s show could add a tinge of political intrigue to it.

On Thursday at 11 a.m. in Las Vegas, the annual Consumer Electronics Show will serve as the venue for a “fireside chat” between Consumer Technology Association CEO Gary Shapiro, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson. Carr’s involvement is important here because the FCC recently banned the sale of drones from Chinese firm DJI, which makes the vast majority of consumer drones on the market.

The big question here is, will Carr address the DJI drone ban at CES? Given the tech-centric nature of the event, this would certainly be an appropriate venue for it. However, the description of Fireside Chat is incredibly vague, promising only “candid conversations on how” [the FCC and FTC] Navigating the rapidly changing technological landscape.” There’s no mention of quizzes or anything like that, so it’s very likely that conversation topics will stay away from anything potentially controversial. We’ll have to wait and see.

mashable light speed

What is DJI ban?

If you haven’t been following the news, momentum toward a complete ban on DJI drones in the United States began last year as part of the Trump administration’s trade war with China. The government will require all Chinese-made drones to undergo a “national security risk assessment” by the end of December. Unfortunately for DJI, the end of December came and the ban went into effect.

For its part, DJI agreed to participate in the audit, but apparently that wasn’t enough for the FCC. Again, it’s not certain whether Carr will address the ban at CES, but if you’re curious how he feels about it, he made a statement at the time of the ban that says everything you need to know.

“President Trump has made clear that his administration will act to secure our airspace and liberate American drone dominance,” Carr said.