In late December, Swift’s camp hit Jack Sweeney, a junior studying information technology at the University of Central Florida, with a cease-and-desist letter that blamed his automated tracking of her private jet for tipping off stalkers as to her location. In the letter, attorneys from the law firm Venable accused Sweeney of effectively providing “individuals intent on harming her, or with nefarious or violent intentions, a roadmap to carry out their plans.”
Sweeney provided the link to that letter in an email to the Associated Press. In that message, he emphasized that while he has never intended to cause harm, he also believes strongly in the importance of transparency and public information.
“One should reasonably expect that their jet will be tracked, whether or not I’m the one doing it, as it is public information after all,” he wrote.
A spokesperson for Swift echoed the legal complaint, saying that “the timing of stalkers” suggests a connection to Sweeney’s flight-tracking sites. The spokesperson did not respond to questions seeking elaboration of that charge, such as whether stalkers have been seen waiting for Swift at the airport when her plane arrived or, alternatively, if there is evidence that stalkers have somehow inferred Swift’s subsequent location from the arrival time of her flight.
The legal letter likewise accuses Sweeney of “disregarding the personal safety of others”; “willful and repeated harassment of our client”; and “intentional, offensive, and outrageous conduct and consistent violations of our client’s privacy.”
Such statements are difficult to square with the fact that Sweeney’s automated tracking accounts merely repackage public data provided by the Federal Aviation Administration, a government agency. That fact did not dissuade the Venable attorneys, who demanded that Sweeney “immediately stop providing information about our client’s location to the public.”
Nobody should have a private jet anyway.
You can’t have a private train car unless you’re an oil baron with a name like Charles crassus Taft
Baboo?!
It’s like meowschwitz in here
He remembers me!
What about billionaires?
Oh, I know what you’re going to say… “There shouldn’t be billionaires either”. Well guess what! You’re right. Fuck em both.
She also sold her jet which I’m guessing is related. She had a dessault falcon 900lx registered as N898TS but she very recently sold it to a company in Missouri.
I don’t suppose it’s to Swaylor Tift Aviation is it?
That would make it absolutely impossible to track and link to her.
But seriously though, can’t they just register the jet under some conspicuous shit and dodge all of this? I mean, she may be the money of the operation but there has to be several levels of separation between her and operations. Pay a “transport company” that pays a “jet company” and make all the companies in between ambitious and under different sgel companies. Obviously this isn’t possible or the billionaires would have done it. But it would seem there is a way to hide their jets just like they hide their money.
Possible, yes, but costs money. And we all know billionaires hate giving away money.
If they see little PERSONAL benefit then it’s a waste to them. And likely cheaper to have their lawyers send cease&desist letters, than to have them setup the shell companies for anonymity.
Billionaires are all selfish. No way does someone aquire that much if they weren’t.
Nope she has no use for it anymore. She’s gonna buy a whole fucking new one because Travis Kelce is too tall for the old one.
Easier just to pay him off. Of course, that’s what he wants.
Wow, 5k is low-ball
I’m team Florida student.
Interesting how as soon as someone becomes a billionaire they become a dickhead, at least publicly.
This doesn’t seem like a dickheaded move to me. First, it was a C&D letter, which has no legal status, and second, the stalker thing is a legitimate concern, especially since the MAGA camp is all riled up about her.
Did you make the same noise when musk did it?
But like, shouldn’t she be taking it up with the FAA then? I’m sure you can apply for delay or exemption in extraordinary situations like this one undoubtedly is?
That is the source of the data after all. If you don’t actually stop the data source from publishing your data, others will continue to use it.
It’s a dumb approach that makes it look like a hurt ego thing rather than a legitimate concern.
It’s a lot cheaper to have your lawyers lean on a college student than it is to have them negotiate with the federal government.
Who’s easier to convince to change, the FAA or a college student?
FAA LADD and PIA programs are just there. Swift has no excuse outside of her getting called out for CO2.
This was a non issue when Musk did it. It continues to be a non issue whilst Swift does it. Aircraft enrolled in both programs do not prevent lookup databases from third parties from getting the data eventually, but prevents in most cases real-time tracking unless there’s literal people standing at the airport watching and reporting.
No, she’s just being petulant about this issue because she’s embarrassed that she’s being told her flying around in a private jet is destroying this planet we’re all living on.
The FAA obviously. It’s publically available data, so it’s totally useless to keep one person from publishing the data when anyone can take over and continue.
The FAA. Have you met college students?
But a stalker could just check the same publicly available information right?
All they’ve done is saved a little bit of effort for the stalker.
She could just not own a private jet and use a company instead.
A stalker could also check her concert schedule.
They make that highly sensitive info public?!?!
Too late you are already getting a C&D from tay tays legal team
There’s a huge difference between the info being public and it being broadcasted in an easily-readable format with her plane number labelled.
Not for someone to be a stalker. You’re saying the only thing keeping some people from being a stalker is how easy the info is to find, or parse, even.
They’re not saying it is the only factor, only that it is a relevant factor. Which it obviously is.
Wouldn’t be a problem if she didn’t have a jet 🤷
info being public and it being broadcasted in an easily-readable format
What is the bar for difficult or easy to read data? Is a CSV difficult enough? How do you even quantify difficulty of readability to meet that standard? If I build a tool to parse that new data, does that mean every agency would have to change formats and make the data harder to read?
Yeap, this is a lot more to do with people utilizing his data to point out exactly how bad her private jet use is for the environment than it is about personal privacy.
It’s not like his data is giving any more information than her social media accounts or tour schedule. What exactly is a stalker supposed to do with the information? Are they going to break into the airport and then elude her security detail? Wouldn’t that be a lot harder than just following her after a show?
The data comes from the FAA. It’s public data. All this guy has done is put an interface on it. Unless Swift’s legal team can prove that each individual stalker used an interface hosted by this guy I don’t see how he can be thought of as responsible for anything. And even if they did use an interface hosted by him, he’s still not doing anything other than showing public data. Data that the FAA clearly believe is in a legitimate public interest to make public. If she’s got an issue with that, they’re the people to go after.
I believe the opposite, you need to have dickhead qualities to become a billionaire
This 10000000 percent. You can’t become that without being a horrible person. It entails having copious amounts of money than others could have instead.
Nah they were always dickheads… it becomes ok to show it when they hit that billion dollars mark though.
I live under Iraq and this comment made me look up whether she’s a billionaire. Guess that’s why she’s been in the news so much lately. Jesus. I wish the billionaire count was going down, not up.
You mean under a rock? /c/boneappletea
I sea that my engagement hack had the desired affect
GGWP
He could be Kuwaiti?
That’s a hilarious geopolitical joke and I’m so happy you exist to make it
In the short-term more billionaires might be better. The more there are the more there are to claw at eachother’s throats. Hopefully they all kill eachother in the process.
Competition is sa capitalist myth. They’ll just end up working together to fuck us over more
As soon as us plebs start bending together. Billionaires will close ranks fast.
Yeeeeah… I understand her not wanting it to be easier for stalkers to track her, but also private jets are a luxury that’s very bad for the environment, and the information is public anyway. Swift shouldn’t win this one.
Stalkers already can access this information. Also I’m expected to believe they get this information and somehow arrive at her destination before her?
If she has scheduled a concert in a particular city, they could already be there and just watch the planes.
But you’d think she has body guards for that.
Just buy three more jets and send them around all the time you dummie
What a bitch.
I like all the money, attention and being treated like god, but please don’t invade my privacy.
Well you can’t have one without the other, I’m not going to hold my breath for you giving up your fame tho.
It’s not even an invasion of privacy. The flight info is public.
IT’S AN INVASION OF PUBLICY!
The stalker argument is absolute bullshit. A stalker would most likely not use the flight path of Swift’s private jet as a means of stalking her; it would be too cumbersome. Additionally, this is not “willful and repeated harassment” of Swift since Mr. Sweeny, as stated in the title and the article, obtained the information from public date provided by FAA. The intent of Mr. Sweeny’s tracking project was not to expose Swift to nefarious individuals but to expose the environmental impact of her private jet. The rich and famous are public figures and, as such, are open to criticism from the public. This is merely a flex (and a futile one at that) by someone with the resources to silence critics.
Yeah and how many different ways would a stalker have to find a famous person. She goes to concerts and events all the time, the stalkers know where those places are.
Hey, Ms Swift…? I love some of your music and political opinions. But can you please go fuck yourself? Public = public. You have more privileges than most working people will ever earn in a lifetime, combined. And the climate emergency WE are all experiencing is irreversible…
Oh it’s reversible all right… Earth will right the ship in its own time, after we’re gone
That fully depends on your definition of what the “reversed” state is. Will ecosystems adapt to the changed climate? Yes. Can temperatures even drop again? Sure. But species lost are gone forever. Ecosystems destroyed will never be the same again. Different ones can develop with enough time and stopping the human interference… But that is hardly “reversible”. That is… natural systems covering up the damage. Going on. Not reversing it.
Carlin said it best. We’re not worried about saving the planet. We’re worried about saving ourselves. When the time comes, “she’s gonna shake us off like a bad case o’ fleas.”
Didn’t Elon try something similar and lost in court? In case anyone is interested silicone jets tracks billionaires jets.
silicone jets
Minor spelling mistake, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find some in those jets.
Yeah… I mean at the end he got Twitter and I think he kick him out… that was an expensive way to handle it I guess…
I mean it probably is still tracked somewhere else and maybe there are other accounts doing it no idea.
I mean it probably is still tracked somewhere else and maybe there are other accounts doing it no idea
The comment you replied to provided exactly that link…
silicone
It’s silicon. Silicon is a naturally occurring chemical element, whereas silicone is a synthetic substance.
Silicon is for computer chips, silicone is for boobies.
Silicone is also really nice for cooking utensils!
now I’m thinking about jet shaped boobies
Imma let you finish, but Tay-Tay has the most expensive legal team of all time!
Lol, I love that article. The author clearly also thinks that Taylor and her goons are full of shit on this one. Like, it’s public information provided by the FAA. Will they sue the FAA then?
Maybe the FAA is unconstitutional.
Probably all of the letter agencies cross that line.
No, they don’t. They were created by acts of Congress to be run by the Executive branch.
Maybe she should buy twitter and ban the guy, or is this the wrong billionaire I am thinking of?
The guy is on Mastodon, tough luck on that one.
Buy the federated instance!
I wish people understand that if you have any public/online presence, pretty much you can get tracked, especially in this age where ordinary people can track someone from their fingertips (and devices), for example Elon’s Jet which get tracked too using public data.
It feels like when someone use Facebook (or any big services), skipped EULA, and then complain that they’re being tracked…
just my 2cent from average joe.