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.”
Well here’s a wild idea, why not ride on a normal god damn plane like 90% of every other person who flies. Boom, can’t be traced by some kid then AND its better by a wide range for the environment. Nothing to see here but rich people problems lol
Sorry, but this isn’t a reasonable take. Someone like Taylor Swift cannot go into the public without it being a huge security risk. This isn’t a TS thing, this is a “being the most famous person ever right this moment” thing.
Okay but she’s actively choosing to be that famous. She spent 6 years with Joe living a quiet low key life, but she decided to do another breakout into more fame and this is the cost. Plus she could charter jets like other celebrities, or idk just not fly home every weekend from halfway across the world?
And thousands of MAGA maniacs now thinking she is some villain. I bet she’s getting tons of death threats now. First AI porn, then conspiracy nutjobs on FOX news, then everybody is projecting the worlds failure to act on climate change on her (brilliant piece of fox news propaganda I must say now), and now this. It’s really not her week lol.
This is it exactly.
She could just rent a different jet each time. Would still pollute, wouldn’t stress out a college kid, would be more difficult for stalkers to track, wouldn’t have drawn as much attention.
You ever heard of the curse of being famous? Imagine everyone took a love potion and everyone knows your face. Everyone around you is staring at you and attempts to speak to you, touch you, they might even actually worship the ground you walk on. Not only those that love them are around, but those that want to do harm. Cut her hair and sell it, harm her to boast about it. Who knows?
That’s a fucking hell I’d not want to live. That is why they don’t fly normal. There’s a reason that high profile celebrities don’t fly with the rest. It’s not necessarily a status thing, but a safety thing. There’s a reason the president has secret service and a private jet.
The president of my very violent country flies economy on public flights. I think she could have a few bodyguards in first class with her and be fine.
The president of my very violent country flies on two 747s.
I mean the average for my whole country is the same as the average for the most violent cities in the USA so I think I win.
She could ride in an anonymous tour bus, harder to track, she could even have a security convoy, and still save money and emissions. Billionaires are murdering us all, I have no sympathy for her or anyone with her wealth if they take private jets on trips that would take two hours to drive.
That. Is a fair argument.
She could even have a private railcar! Easier to track than a tour bus but has a significant cool factor right now.
I commented on another thread elsewhere that it would be cool if musicians did private railcars and private trains, because just imagine the collaborations and how it would affect both rail infrastructure and musical tours. Plus the opportunities for media and fan interactions become so much cooler than with a cramped tour bus
She’s rich enough to hire a private jet if that’s the problem. I don’t feel sorry for her at all. Or any other billionaire having their jet tracked for that matter.
You don’t have to own a plane to charter a private flight. She could just take private planes and not have to deal with crowds of people. Then you wouldn’t be able to track her plane, because she would be taking different planes. This is how most famous people deal with the issue.
You right. Makes more sense that way imo
You ever heard of the curse of being famous?
🤢🤮
So the legal complaint has no merit (even more so) if he just delays the feed by a day or two.
Maybe TayTay should ask the FAA to delay the data.
This is like trying to stop paparazzi… No legal grounds.
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.”
Actually surprised no one here is launching themselves to defend her like they didn’t defend Elon on this. Haha.
That’s a good thing though right?
Twitter is probably a war zone I don’t think the 3 swifties on Lemmy care.
Can confirm. Love her but she shouldn’t be flying a private jet. Nobody needs that
Probably not a big overlap with lemmy and taylor fan worshippers. Still not a mainstream site and she’s absolutely positively a mainstream music artist.
She’s been anti piracy and streaming to an astonishing degree and her concert ticket prices show what’s wrong with everything entertainment right now. I reckon that alone doesn’t sit well with the lemmy crowd who I believe are not the typical swift fans to begin with.
I find it chuckle worthy that half of this thread is just crying about people owning jets
I’ll probably join you at the bottom of the dog pile but I have to say:
If I was a multi-millionaire with enough money for a private jet, I would 100% own and travel with a private jet.
1st class?? Pfft what am I, a peasant? No, I’m flying in my private plane where I don’t have to fuck with TSA and customs meets me at the bottom of the steps when I arrive.
I’d fly anywhere longer than a 3 hour drive and I’d probably buy a helicopter for those pesky short trips. I don’t have time for traffic. Actually, if I had that much money I’d have enough time for whatever the fuck I wanted, but I wouldn’t want to sit in traffic–and what’s a $5k helicopter ride downtown?
Everyone on here acting all sanctimonious about their environmental impact would be on a private jet next week if they won the lottery today.
Speaking of which, I’m gonna go buy a lotto ticket.
Yeah I’m not sure what people are expecting rich people to do, fly coach on spirit airlines?
Would the average person, suddenly handed $1 billion, increase their environmental impact? Almost certainly.
Public criticism of excessive impact can act as a moderating factor on this aspect of human nature.
Let’s fight the probable evil of our hypothetical selves by being vocal on unnecessary excesses of the rich and famous.
The lack of nuance in any discussion on Lemmy is making me less and less interested in comment sections.
So you think it’s ok to personally own a jet? It’s beyond greedy
I spend zero part of my day worrying about what other people own, to be honest
But you worry about downvotes, interesting priorities you have there
I also don’t worry about imaginary internet points. I’m not sure why what made you think that.
Considering the pollution they produce and the extreme wealth diaparity, id say its a fair gripe
And if that were the topic, it would make sense to spend time griping about it here
What makes you think its NOT the topic?
Did you read the article?
It’s not about CO2 emissions
I read the actual topic
She “disregards” everyone’s safety by flying in a private jet.
Flying commercial would be disregarding everyone’s safety.
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.
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.
Publicly available information from the FAA. Simple as.
Both of her planes are blocked at the vendor level, which means they don’t show up on the ASDI feed from the FAA. Her flights are tracked by volunteers at places like flightaware who have their own ADS-B transceivers in their homes
She’s concerned for her personal safety, but shouldn’t I also be concerned for the risks she brings to me from her excessive co2 production?
Another point goes to the Streisand Effect.
Considering the amount of MAGA creeps around, I’d reserve judgement on that. She must get 10 credible death threats a day.
Sucks to be her then. She could just not fly around in her private jet so much if she’s so worried.
Everyone has a job to do. Her’s forces her to travel a lot. Yours may not.
She’s got enough $$ she doesn’t HAVE to do anything the rest of her life and still live extremely comfortably.
Her “job” doesn’t force her to do shit.
You don’t walk in her shoes. You don’t know what is or should be important to her. She may be wealthy, but maybe her personal value is something other than what you think it should be.
Well apparently the planet isn’t important to her.
I don’t walk in her shoes. Yeah duh, if I did I wouldn’t be, because if I ever made 5 million I’d retire, buy a house, and live off interest comfortably the rest of my life. I don’t need any more than that (and technically don’t even need that, considering I don’t have it now and I’m not dead).
That’s you, not her. Like most successful people I suspect she has higher aspirations. Although I find her music a bit jingleistic, I suspect making it is important to her, perhaps even more than her bank account.
And now more MAGA creeps know about it, and more trackers will pop up. Streisand Effect.
All it takes is one. Everybody can track planes if they want to. This guy just makes it easy. Everybody knows about him since Musk.
OK is making it easy a threat worth doing something about, or simply making public info easier to find? You’re trying to have it both ways. Is it “just easier” or a real threat?
Pick one.
I don’t see your logic here.
“All it takes is one.”
“Anyone can track planes.”
pick one.
Again, I don’t see your logic.
She has a 24/7, well paid security team. Most of America is a single $1000 emergency away from homelessness and financial ruin.
Fuck Taylor Swift and fuck idol worship.
You talk tough when you don’t have lunatics threatening your life. But, then you can, can’t you.
Shut up simp. I don’t think you made this noise when musk did this.
Simp? Bwhahaha. Sorry I hit so close to the nerve.
What nerve, simp? Touch grass incel.
Please pay attention to our community rules, and tone down the insults.
That’s a good one too. You have a nice day.
What the actual fuck is wrong with you? Taylor Swift isn’t your friend. She isn’t creeping around forums making a list of users that defend her. Her success was purchased by her rich father, her music is written and produced by a team of professionals who use scientifically proven methods to make sure the music is palatable to make the most money… Goddamn. Who defends the ultra rich?
It’s called empathy my friend. You should try some.
You misspelled psychosis.
You misspelled not caring about anyone.
I’m so tired about hearing about this fake ass bish. Y’all know she’s racist, right?
It sounds tough being a billionaire. She should give it all up.
We’ll take the clothes, cash, cars, and homes, just stop complainin
Have we ever seen Musk and Swift in the same place at the same time?
