Sweeney, a Florida college student, is well-known on the internet for tracking celebrities’ private jet movements. He was previously in the news after Elon Musk suspended his Twitter account “@ElonJet” account in December 2022, citing security concerns for the billionaire and his family.
Student’s Tracking Activities
Taylor Swift’s solicitors have issued a cease-and-desist letter to Sweeney, causing him to face new legal trouble. The singer’s legal team, led by Katie Morrone of Venable LLP, has accused Sweeney of “stalking and harassing” Swift by publicly sharing real-time information about her location and future travel plans on social media.
Despite the controversy, Sweeney, who has returned to X (Twitter) since the Musk incident, continues to monitor the private jets of other notable figures, including Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates, among other high-flying celebrities.
He uses publicly available data from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and flight signals from aviation enthusiasts to provide information about the flights, including carbon emission estimates, in his posts.
Taylor Swift’s Concerns on Safety
Swift’s legal letter emphasised Sweeney’s actions as a potential threat to the pop star’s safety and wellbeing. Citing previous incidents of people attempting to harm Swift, the letter argued that sharing her location information could provide a road map for such behavior.
The legal document also mentioned Musk’s $5,000 offer to Sweeney to delete the X account that was tracking his jet. Sweeney declined the offer, counter-proposing $50,000, indicating that he could use the money for college or possibly to buy a Tesla.
Student’s Response to the Legal Action
Sweeney told CNN that he received the cease-and-desist letter after non-profit groups and media outlets began criticising Swift’s carbon footprint. He went on to say that he had no intention of causing harm and that he was acting in accordance with public information.
Sweeney acknowledged and said that Swift has some good songs, but emphasized his commitment to transparency and public information. He also noted Swift’s fans’ interest in his accounts, implying that tracking her jet is something she can reasonably expect, with or without his involvement.
Carbon footprint and the Concerns
Carbon footprint is the total amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions caused by a person or other entity’s activities. It includes direct emissions, such as those caused by the combustion of fossil fuels in manufacturing, heating, and transportation, as well as emissions required to generate electricity for the goods and services consumed. In addition, the carbon footprint concept frequently includes emissions of other greenhouse gasses, such as methane, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
The carbon footprint concept is related to and evolved from the older concept of ecological footprint, which was invented in the early 1990s by Canadian ecologist William Rees and Swiss-born regional planner Mathis Wackernagel at the University of British Columbia.
An ecological footprint is the total amount of land needed to support an activity or population. It includes environmental factors like water consumption and the amount of land used for food production. In contrast, a carbon footprint is typically expressed in terms of weight,
such as tonnes of CO2 or CO2 equivalent per year.
Celebrities and Trolling
Famous personalities, usually from the fields of entertainment and business, are highly prone to be tracked by hackers. Hackers and trollers usually attack them, because they wish to show the truth of these people, whom people quite literally worship. Hackers end up exposing them through hideous information and do not even hesitate to go further and let them get trolled. Celebrities being public figures, are often taken to be granted, and people think that they can go to any extent to troll them in the name of Freedom of Speech.
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