Students harassing celebrities like Taylor Swift and Elon Musk from airline tracking: 'I do it all, regardless of who's what'
A university student in the US state of Florida has become accustomed to harassing and harassing some of the world's richest and most powerful people. But how do they do it?
Jack Sweeney's passion for civility has shown him the way.
A university student in the US state of Florida has become accustomed to harassing and harassing some of the world's richest and most powerful people. But how do they do it?
So let us tell you that they are in the nose of these rich people by telling the rest of the world that their private planes are flying inclined and how much carbon they emit.
He is student Jack Sweeney and he also wants to say that singer Taylor Swift has some good lyrics.
They also want to say that they are in danger of legal action against them because they tell where the private plane of these diplomats is going, and how often it goes for a flight.
He told the BBC in an email: "To be honest, I try to share everyone's information no matter who they are. ‘
But the information they give is specifically about the locations of the private planes of the rich and powerful and they post it on their social media accounts. And because of this, 21-year-olds are in the news again and again and they may face legal risks.
Jack Sweeney is an airline maintenance operations controller and the son of a teacher. He grew up on the outskirts of Orlando. He says that he has always been interested in aviation and its technology, and especially Elon Musk's SpaceX and Tesla companies.
And then it so happened that this interest gradually put him on the path of creating the aircraft tracking website TheAir Traffic.com and creating social media accounts that track planes of celebrities, politicians, big businessmen and Russian oligarchs.
How does it work?
Their system relies on publicly available data collected by amateur workers. Aircraft in the air regularly send information about where they are flying, and that their signals can also be obtained by people using cheap receivers on earth.
This ever-growing group of plane trackers online is part of a larger community such as Osant (open source intelligence), populated by people looking for criminal, informative, or simply simple interesting pieces of freely available online data. It's a group of people from different walks of life, ranging from a little interested to serious and passionate researchers as well as committed investigative journalists.
Jack Sweeney is currently in his third year of his information technology degree at Central University of Florida. "In fact, I started it only amateurishly because I found it interesting," he said. ‘
With the passage of time, they began to see a clear purpose in it. He says he "believes in transparency and the importance of giving information to the public." ‘
And there's an environmental angle to it: 'Flyers are trying to hide the poor PR of (carbon) emissions.' ‘
Their data has been used in studies showing large carbon footprints of Taylor Swift and his delegation. The singer says she has bought enough carbon offsets to reduce emissions in her latest two trips.
But there are also privacy issues in providing this information. Taylor Swift has claimed through her lawyers that the disclosure of the location of her private plane puts her in danger of pursuers.
Letter from Taylor Swift
In a letter from the Washington Post, the singer's lawyers wrote that tracking her plane was a "question of life or death" and that "there is no legitimate interest or public need for this information except stalking, harassment, domination and control." ‘
Jack Sweeney denies these claims and says there is a primary public interest in ascertaining the location of the pop star's plane. The proof of this is the fans of Softies itself.
He says: "His fans, who have expanded TaylorSwift jet accounts and subreddit (subtitles within Reddit), are really interested in him. Most of these tracking accounts are their supporters and fans. ‘
And given her world tours and numerous public events including her recent participation in the NLF Games, it's generally quite easy to know where Taylor Swift will be at a particular time in the future.
For example, over the past fortnight, several stories have been published about her engagements, describing how she can travel between two important performances— how she travels if she has a Saturday night show in Tokyo and a Sunday Super Bowl in Las Vegas.
Much of the public information in it is more interesting and important than the location of the aircraft. Flight data can reveal who owns the plane and where an aircraft is flying in the air, but it cannot tell who is on board, or where the planes will travel after landing.
But representatives for Taylor Swift say the plane's information tells the exact times and locations of her movements and that one of her alleged stalkers was recently arrested outside her New York home. "Her posts tell you exactly when and where she will be," Ms Swift's publicist Trey Penn said in a statement. ‘
Jack Sweeney also wants to say something to the star. He gently suggests that if privacy is his top concern, he can get his private jet registered through an anonymous corporate entity and choose an identification code that does not include his birthday and initials.
"There is no risk of further action."
Jack Sweeney's lawyer, James Slater, said he did not expect Taylor Swift to take any further legal action.
He said: "This letter was an attempt to scare Jack into doing something that has no legal meaning. Unfortunately, people with power and money often do so.
He is not doing anything illegal. ‘
Taylor Swift's lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.
Here's a question: Will Swift fans follow Jack Sweeney's accounts even after the latest news?
After the story of the legal letter came to light, there has been a lot of buzz online about this case. It also includes support for Jack Sweeney, but also expresses feelings such as whether 'Jack Sweeney wants to kill Taylor Swift like Princess Diana.' I won't let him go. I am very angry. ‘
But this isn't the first time Jack Sweeney has been under pressure from the rich and famous.
When Elon Musk bought Twitter (now X) in 2022, he promised in the name of freedom of expression that he would not take action against Jack Sweeney's @elonjet tracking account.
But within a few weeks, Elon Musk changed his stance and banned the account and threatened to sue him, claiming that as a result of @elonjet, a stalker tracked him down and boarded his plane while his little one was inside.
Police later identified a member of Elon Musk's security team as a suspect and said Jack Sweeney's account had nothing to do with the incident.
Elon Musk's Tracking
Jack Sweeney now runs an account that tracks Elon Musk's jet 24 hours late, in order to comply with the site's rule banning real-time location tracking.
He also runs several accounts on social media sites to monitor planes owned by Kim Kardashian, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Donald Trump and others.
But he has expressed disappointment over the rules of social media. He said Meta had suspended his Facebook and Instagram accounts tracking Taylor Swift's plane, but dropped other aircraft tracking accounts, including those that track Mark Zuckerberg's plane.
The BBC reached out to Meta for comment.
Meanwhile, aircraft trackers chatting on Jack Sweeney's server on the Discord site have defended their position. At the same time, he has expressed his enthusiasm for his passion. And some of them even admitted that they themselves are fans and fans of Taylor Swift.
One person in the chat said: "I have no doubt that some madman would have threatened them like this. But the airport is not a place where they are at risk. ‘
Additional Reporting Gareth Evans
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