A military forum enthusiast was sentenced for using a drone to take high-definition photos of new warships in order to find something to talk about
In recent years, the drone industry has covered many fields such as agriculture, industry and services, becoming a new trend and fashion for mass consumption and entertainment. However, the number of illegal drone aerial photography and surveying activities has increased, especially the "illegal flying" and "random flying" activities that ignore the no-fly regulations, which poses a hidden risk to our national security.
In recent years, national security authorities have investigated and dealt with a number of cases involving illegal drone flights, photographing confidential facilities and sensitive areas and then transmitting and sharing the data on the Internet. These illegal acts have created risks of leakage of our core military facilities and important geographic information, and the relevant persons involved have been punished by law.
- Spying on military intelligence and illegally photographing important military facilities. In November 2021, Luo, a military forum enthusiast in China, used a drone with a remote high-definition camera function to illegally photograph a new type of warship in order to find a good topic for conversation. He was discovered and investigated by the national security authorities. According to the appraisal of relevant departments, the photos and videos taken by Luo involved 2 confidential military secrets and 1 secret military secret. In the end, Luo was sentenced to 1 year in prison and 1 year of probation for "illegally obtaining state secrets."
- Spying on key areas and illegally collecting sensitive geographic information. Liu, the person in charge of an important surveying and mapping project at a domestic aerial surveying agency, used a drone with a shooting function in his daily work to conduct flight surveying and mapping of a key confidential area without review or permission, taking multi-angle, high-resolution images and information, and collecting and storing relevant high-precision aerial photography data, causing key technical security risks. He was investigated and dealt with by the national security authorities in accordance with the law, and the risk of loss of secrets was eliminated in a timely manner.
——Trespassing into restricted areas, uploading and sharing sensitive data privately. When Li and Zhang, employees of a company, were performing a routine inspection project assigned by the company, they had a weak sense of discipline and law. Without applying to or reporting to the local air traffic control center and other departments, they patrolled a military restricted area of our country to collect data, and uploaded the data to the network cloud disk and WeChat group for sharing. It was determined that Li and Zhang's illegal patrol collection and network sharing of military secrets had seriously endangered the security of our country's national defense and military secrets, constituted the crime of illegally obtaining state secrets, and were subject to criminal punishment in accordance with the law.
The Interim Regulations on the Management of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Flights stipulate that it is prohibited to use unmanned aerial vehicles to illegally photograph military facilities, military industrial facilities or other confidential places; it is prohibited to illegally obtain or disclose state secrets, or illegally provide data information to foreign countries. As a user of drone equipment, you should abide by laws and regulations, regulate your own behavior, pay attention to no-fly zones, and avoid illegally photographing confidential places.
——No-fly zones. Airspace set up to protect national security, important military facilities, special administrative regions, etc. is a no-fly zone. Common no-fly zones include airports and surrounding areas, military restricted areas, military control areas, nuclear facility areas, power plants, and electrified railway lines.
- No-fly requirements. Without the relevant permission and authorization from the air traffic management agency, no one may take off a drone in the no-fly airspace, let alone conduct photography, videography, surveying, measurement and positioning in the no-fly airspace.
- No-fly liability. Those who fly drones in no-fly airspace will face administrative penalties such as warnings and heavy fines, and the drones will be confiscated or destroyed. If accidents such as casualties or property losses are caused, civil liability will be borne; if they take off in controlled airspace, criminal liability will be pursued in accordance with the law.
"Drone flying has taboos" - this is basic common sense that every drone user must keep in mind. If the general public finds suspicious clues of drones being used in military restricted areas, military control areas and other areas to endanger national security, please promptly report it through the 12339 national security agency reporting acceptance hotline, online reporting platform, the Ministry of National Security WeChat public account reporting acceptance channel or directly to the local national security agency.
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