Jack Sweeney, the American college student who has tracked the take-offs and landings of private jets of billionaires and politicians, is now in serious trouble. Jack Sweeney was caught off guard, he didn't expect the tracking of the plane information to cause such a stir. In light of the fact that the details of the flights of American pop singer Taylor Swift (also known as "Moldy") are constantly being revealed, the legal representatives of "Moldy" plan to file legal action against him.
In December, Mildew's legal representative issued a warning to Sweeney, ordering him to stop his "tracking and harassment" activities. He said he had been told that his "stalking and harassment activities" would have serious consequences and that he had been prosecuted for it. In January of this year, Sweeney received a second warning letter from a lawyer named "Mildew" warning that he might take legal action. Sweeney said he would not be bothered by this behavior again because he knew he already had a set of his own ** and could present it as evidence in court. Sweeney claims that the information he posts on the internet is all public.
Taylor Swift's ** from the Global Times.
Sweeney is 21 years old and is currently a junior in Florida. However, he was by no means just an ordinary college student. Before that, he attracted a lot of attention around the world for inventing a tracker specifically designed to track the private jet of Elon Musk, the world's richest man.
In 2021, at the age of 18, Sweeney created a Twitter account called @elonjet on the platform that was still known as Twitter at the time, which was mainly used to track Musk's private jet. Whenever Musk's plane takes off or lands, this account sends tweets.
In addition, Sweeney has created several other bot accounts with the aim of tracking the activities of tech giants like Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. Sweeney's plans don't seem to be limited to tracking tech giants, he's also working on a variety of accounts with very different styles. However, the accounts that track Musk's planes are the most popular.
Elon Musk (Xinhua).
It is understood that these accounts are based on ADS-B's public data, using robotics to track aircraft. The widespread use of this technology raises a range of privacy and security concerns. ADS-B is composed of multiple ground stations and airborne stations, which uses a mesh-like, multi-point-to-multipoint approach to achieve two-way communication of data. Sweeney is convinced that the public nature of this data means that there is nothing illegal about his actions, and he will continue to publish real-time location information of the aircraft for public inspection. Sweeney's view is that given that every aircraft is required to be equipped with ADS-B and that this information is publicly available, he has the authority to announce the exact location of the aircraft.
However, Musk holds the view that using publicly available air traffic information for tracking could pose a risk to his personal safety. As a result, Musk decided to take more direct action, hiring a top-notch cybersecurity team to try to completely erase Sweeney's traces on the internet. In February 2022, Musk offered to bid $5,000 in the hope that Sweeney would be able to delete the account, but the offer was rejected by the other party.
Later, Sweeney approached Musk again and offered to add zero to him and asked him for $50,000 or to buy a Tesla car, but Musk refused his request.
However, Sweeney's "blackmail" tactics have sometimes been successful. Mark Cuban, a billionaire and well-known investor, is one of his targets. But unable to tolerate his interference, he put forward a condition of "being willing to be friends with him for life" and made an agreement with Sweeney. Based on this agreement, Sweeney decided not to track Kuban's plane.
So, what exactly does the phrase "willing to be friends with him for life" refer to? This question makes us have to think - is there a "tacit understanding" between Cuban and Sweeney who both invested in a company in the United States, but eventually broke up because the company went bankrupt? According to the information revealed, Cuban mentioned in a conversation with Sweeney: "With my lifelong friends by your side, I think it may make more sense for you than buying a Tesla." If one day you decide to start a business, I will help you. ”
After Sweeney made it clear that Kuban would support him commercially, Sweeney has not made public any more information about Cuban's travels since then.
At present, the top female singer "Mildew" can't stand this kind of trouble, and plans to impose legal sanctions on Sweeney. "Mildew's" lawyer believes that for Sweeney this may be a game, but for "Mildew", this is an invasion of her privacy, but also a threat to her personal safety, and will not be tolerated. Mold's legal representative pointed out that for Sweeney, this may be just a game, but for Mold, it is not just about her personal privacy, but also about her own safety.