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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — When it comes to dealing with a Florida college student who uses public data and social media to track the private jets of billionaires, politicians and other celebrities, Taylor Swift seemingly can’t shake him off.
In late December, the Swift camp hit Jack Sweeney, a junior studying information technology at the University of Central Florida, with a violation letter who blamed his automated tracking of his private jet for alerting stalkers to his location. In the letter, attorneys from the Venable law firm accused Sweeney of effectively providing “individuals with the intent to harm her, or with nefarious or violent intentions, a roadmap to carry out her plans.”
Sweeney provided the link to that letter in an email to the Associated Press. In that message she 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 their plane to be tracked, whether I do it or not, since after all it is public information,” he wrote.
A spokesperson for Swift echoed the legal complaint, saying “the timing of the stalkers” suggests a connection to Sweeney’s flight-tracking sites. The spokesperson did not respond to questions seeking an explanation for that allegation, such as whether stalkers were seen waiting for Swift at the airport when her plane arrived or, alternatively, whether there is evidence that stalkers have somehow inferred Swift’s subsequent location from arrival time. of her flight.
The legal letter also accuses Sweeney of “disregarding the personal safety of others”; “deliberate and repeated harassment of our client”; and “intentional, offensive and scandalous conduct and ongoing violations of our customers’ privacy.”
It’s difficult to reconcile such statements with the fact that Sweeney’s automated tracking accounts simply repackage public data provided by the Federal Aviation Administration, a government agency. That fact did not deter Venable’s attorneys, who demanded that Sweeney “immediately cease providing information to the public regarding our client’s location.”
Swift’s spokesman did not respond to a question about whether lawyers had issued the same demand to the FAA.
At one point, Sweeney had more than 30 such accounts on Twitter, now known as X after Elon Musk. bought the site for $44 billion in 2022. Subsequently, Musk had his own fight with Sweeneytweeting at one point that his commitment to free speech required him not to ban Sweeney’s @elonjet account even though he considered it “a direct risk to personal safety.”
But it wasn’t long before Musk abruptly changed his attitude and effectively expelled the X student, accusing Sweeney of endangering his personal safety.