He got under Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s skin and recently troubled pop star Taylor Swift by tracking and sharing the location of their jets. Jack Sweeney is a Florida college student who has been telling the world about where the private planes of celebrities and public figures are – and how much carbon they emit.
Sweeney was recently threatened by Swift’s legal action, accusing him of causing “direct and irreparable harm, as well as emotional and physical distress” to the singer-songwriter.But he remains adamant and believes that anybody should be able to see where her private jet is headed, and how often it flies.
“I like to be fair. I try to share everyone’s info no matter who it is,” BBC quoted him as saying. He said that there is a fundamental public interest in locating the pop star’s plane, providing Swifties as proof.
“Her fans, who have grown the TaylorSwiftJets accounts and subreddit, are the ones truly interested. These tracking accounts consistently have more supporters and fans [than detractors],” he said.
Why Sweeney tracks, shares location of celebrity jets
According to Sweeney, he had an interest in aviation and technology, particularly in Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Tesla companies. These interests gradually led him to develop, TheAirTraffic.com, a website that tracks planes by relying on publicly available data.
“Originally I was just kind of doing this as a hobby as I found it interesting,” Sweeney said, adding that he believes “in the importance of transparency and public information”. Sweeney also throws in an environmental angle: “The flyers are trying to hide the bad PR of [carbon] emissions.”
Meanwhile, Sweeney’s lawyer asserted that he “is not doing anything unlawful.”
Currently, Sweeney runs an account that tracks Musk’s jet with a 24-hour delay. He also operates accounts on several social media sites keeping track of planes owned by Kim Kardashian, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Donald Trump and others.
TOI Tech Desk
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