Taylor Swift Threatens Legal Action Against Student Who Tracks Her Publicly Available Carbon Footprint/Private Jet Usage

[Coloringbooks 14,023]

Taylor Swift's attorneys have threatened legal action against a Florida college student who runs social media accounts tracking the flights of her and other celebrities' private jets.

 

Jack Sweeney, a junior at the University of Central Florida, has for years run accounts that log the takeoffs and landings of planes and helicopters owned by hundreds of billionaires, politicians, Russian oligarchs and other public figures, along with estimates of their planet-warming emissions. The accounts use publicly available data from the Federal Aviation Administration and volunteer hobbyists who can track the aircraft via the signals they broadcast.

 

In December, Swift's attorney at the Washington law firm Venable wrote Sweeney a cease-and-desist letter saying Swift would "have no choice but to pursue any and all legal remedies" if he did not stop his "stalking and harassing behavior".

 

Sweeney, 21, told The Post he saw the letter as an attempt to scare him away from sharing public data. The accounts offer only an incomplete sketch of which cities Swift might currently be in, similar to the public schedules for her concerts or any NFL games she might attend, he said. And the letters, he added, were sent to him at a time when she faced criticism over her flights' environmental impact.

Private-jet flights are criticized for their disproportionately high impact on climate change, and Sweeney's accounts have often been used to name and shame their most famous passengers. In 2022, the accounts were cited in an analysis that estimated "climate terrorist" Taylor Swift was the biggest celebrity [carbon dioxide] polluter of the year. "This information is already out there", he said. "Her team thinks they can control the world".

 

After receiving the letters, Sweeney said he asked for help from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group, which sent his request to a list of attorneys. James Slater, a Florida lawyer who specializes in First Amendment and internet speech issues, responded on Sweeney's behalf to the Venable letter: "This isn't about putting a GPS tracker on someone and invading their privacy. It's using public information to track the jet of a public figure", he said. “This is their means to try to quash a PR issue and bully my client to have the bad coverage die down".

 

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/02/06/taylor-swift-jet-tracking-legal-threat/ thoughts?

[lakeemmahottie 1,638]

Honestly... In a way I get why Taylor might feel uncomfortable but at the same time that student isn't killing the planet as well as the ears of millions /hj

[taco truck 33,271]

Good, obviously Taylor uses a jet too much but that’s not the problem here and not why she’s suing. This persons tracks her jet and posts it online for everyone to see where she is. She has a huge issue with stalkers (as you would expect) and other fans have asked these accounts to stop multiple times but they never do. You can track usage without saying where she is lol. 

[heroindealer 11,146]

taylor will uber to court for this one 

[Coloringbooks 14,023]

(BTW I understand that this might be merged into the Taylor Swift thread, but since this topic doesn't relate to her music and extends to topics such as climate change, pollution, other billionaires such as Elon Musk, and broader discussions on free speech rights, I believe it warrants its own separate thread. Mods are welcome to move it if necessary!)

[ultrabanisters 45,609]

yeah no i disagree with the privacy sentiment, she has a strong security presence and can certainly afford more. it is publicly available data and it just screams that she is trying to stop the private jet discourse by threatening and being litigious to people she knows cant afford top calibre lawyers.

 

keep tracking i say 

[DCooper 37,087]

[southbeachswing 3,901]

3 minutes ago, Coloringbooks said:

In December, Swift's attorney at the Washington law firm Venable wrote Sweeney a cease-and-desist letter saying Swift would "have no choice but to pursue any and all legal remedies" if he did not stop his "stalking and harassing behavior".

 

Sweeney, 21, told The Post he saw the letter as an attempt to scare him away from sharing public data. The accounts offer only an incomplete sketch of which cities Swift might currently be in, similar to the public schedules for her concerts or any NFL games she might attend, he said. And the letters, he added, were sent to him at a time when she faced criticism over her flights' environmental impact.

 

She's had her fair share of stalkers - and although this is public information online, im sure data about her general location being this easily accessible or trending is scary

At the same time though I don't see how what the college student is doing can be considered as "stalking behavior"  But I agree with what taco truck said.. he can just remove the part about her location while still making a point about her carbon footprint

 

 

 

 

[taco truck 33,271]

Also, I do have to say from face value this is not a good look, and grammy's was already causing a ton of hate. I'm scared if the new album isn't exceptional there is going to be a mass hate train (probably not as bad as 2016 though).

[Genesee 6,382]

do i think the student should continue exposing the damage she and other billionaires are doing daily? absolutely. but you can still prove your point without putting her in potential danger

[Coloringbooks 14,023]

37 minutes ago, ultrabanisters said:

yeah no i disagree with the privacy sentiment, she has a strong security presence and can certainly afford more. it is publicly available data and it just screams that she is trying to stop the private jet discourse by threatening and being litigious to people she knows cant afford top calibre lawyers.

 

keep tracking i say 

MTE. It's hard to see this as a "safety concern" or to even think safety is her main issue with this. The idea that the private jet tracker is causing her "emotional distress" when she's killing the planet to dash between her home, tour and football games is bonkers. She's like the female musical equivalent of Elon Musk, and I'm tired of both of them.

 

What this person is documenting isn't even illegal, it's all public information that can be easily accessed by anyone who looks for it. 

[honeymoon is alive 21,405]

sometimes i wish lana had a pr team like taylor, everything wrong that she does is hidden 

[prettywhenimhigh 49,396]

   

 

it's PUBLIC INFORMATION, he's not stalking nor harassing her and he's not doing it only to her. keep tracking!  

[Bluelake 2,892]

21 minutes ago, taco truck said:

Good, obviously Taylor uses a jet too much but that’s not the problem here and not why she’s suing. This persons tracks her jet and posts it online for everyone to see where she is. She has a huge issue with stalkers (as you would expect) and other fans have asked these accounts to stop multiple times but they never do. You can track usage without saying where she is lol. 

You always keep it so real

[Get Drunk 17,983]

As someone else said, it’s public data…. If a stalker wanted to know that bad they’d just track her themself. She just doesn’t want it publicised 

[taco truck 33,271]

maybe i'm just a delusional swiftie but i just can't get myself to fully care about the jet usage when beyonce and kim kardashian and ariana grande and selena gomez probably have way more carbon emissions from their factories creating their makeup/clothing brands. literally all of these extremely wealthy celebrities are polluting the earth and the jet thing just feels targeted towards taylor because people already hate her. i know it's bad but honestly taylor is relatively unproblematic compared to lots of celebrities and i just think people want to hate her soooo bad.

 

this is my qftc....

[Black to Blue 5,682]

17 minutes ago, Coloringbooks said:

The idea that the private jet tracker is causing her "emotional distress" when she's killing the planet to dash between her home, tour and football games is kinda wild.

It’s just an easy argument that attorneys like to throw in so something can meet the elements of an intentional infliction of emotional distress 

[BethDufreneOnTheBayouByYou 9,150]

I'm indifferent on Taylor but I think 2024 is the year she faces some serious backlash. She's crossing the overexposure threshold and it's bound to happen.  there's something in the wind I can feel it blowing in....

[taco truck 33,271]

I don’t think it’s even only talking about random stalkers though. Have you guys not seen the fucking crowds that form in front of her apartment in nyc or electric lady when someone posts her location? I don’t think people need to be sharing her location to the world. Again just stop the location part and share the usage and it should all be fine.

[oldandugly 1,672]

I understand this and it’s so creepy and probably so uncomfortable for Taylor and I wouldn’t like it, but at the same time it is public information so like??