Taylor Swift private jet tracker responds, claims no unlawful activity

Taylor Swift's flight paths are shared by college student Jack Sweeney, who refused to stop despite a cease-and-desist letter.

University of Central Florida student Jack Sweeney has found himself in a legal battle with Taylor Swift's attorney after receiving a cease-and-desist letter demanding he stop publicly sharing the singer's flight information. The 21-year-old ran an Instagram page called @taylorswiftjets, where he reported her flight activity using publicly available data.

Swift's attorney, Katie Wright Morrone, sent multiple letters to Sweeney demanding that he stop tracking and publicly sharing her flight information. In response, Sweeney's attorney, James Slater, defended his actions, stating that there is nothing illegal about using publicly accessible information to track private jets, including those belonging to public figures like Taylor Swift.

Sweeney's attorney argued that his speech is protected and does not violate any of Swift's legal rights. He also pointed out that Sweeney's company, GRNDCTRL, has reported flight history for other public figures, such as Russian oligarchs and Elon Musk.

Swift's attorneys claim that Sweeney's actions put the popstar at risk by providing up-to-date location information accessible to potential stalkers and harassers. However, Sweeney's attorney rejected these claims, stating that the information he uses is already publicly available and that Sweeney has never made any threats against Swift.

In addition to tracking Swift's flights, Sweeney has multiple social media accounts tracking aircraft belonging to celebrities, billionaires, and politicians, analyzing the carbon footprint of their trips. The information is gathered from various publicly available sources, including registration information from the Federal Aviation Administration and broadcast signals from the planes themselves.

The technology used to track the flights is known as Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), which is required by the Federal Aviation Administration on aircraft and shares real-time position, altitude, and other information important to air traffic controllers. This data also allows for sites like FlightAware.com to show real-time commercial flight locations.

Despite the legal battle, Sweeney continues to defend his actions, arguing that he has not violated any laws and that the information he shares is already publicly available. As the dispute continues, it remains to be seen how it will ultimately be resolved.