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A college student has no problem sharing Taylor Swift’s flight paths very well.
Jack Sweeney, a student at the University of Central Florida, is rejecting a cease-and-desist letter sent to him by Swift’s lawyer demanding that he stop publicly posting the singer’s flights on her jet. The 21-year-old ran the now-defunct Instagram page @taylorswiftjets, where she reported on her flight activity using data from various publicly available information sources.
Swift’s attorney, Katie Wright Morrone, sent several letters to Sweeney demanding that she stop tracking and publicly sharing her flight information. In a dismissive response shared on X on Monday, Sweeney’s lawyer said the 22-year-old student and his company, GRNDCTRL, did nothing illegal.
Sweeney captioned the post, “Look What You Made Me Do,” referencing the title track from Swift’s 2017 album “Reputation.” She also shared the two letters Swift’s team sent her.
“Simply put, there is nothing illegal about GRNDCTRL’s use of publicly accessible information to track private planes, including those of public figures like Taylor Swift,” wrote Sweeney’s attorney, James Slater.
Slater argued that Sweeney’s speech is protected and did not violate any of Swift’s legal rights. She added that GRNDCTRL has also reported the flight history of Russian oligarchs and Elon Musk.
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Lawyers reject claims he posed a ‘credible threat’ to Swift
Swift’s lawyers argue that Sweeney’s actions put the pop star at risk by providing up-to-date location information accessible to potential stalkers and stalkers.
Slater rejected those claims, clarifying that Sweeney is using information that is already publicly available. She added that the language in Morrone’s letter defines a stalker as someone who poses a “credible threat” to a victim.
“Our clients have never threatened Ms. Swift and their letter does not suggest that they have,” Slater said. “Furthermore, the tone of her letter is unfounded.”
USA TODAY has contacted Swift’s representatives for comment.
How is Taylor Swift’s plane tracked?
Sweeney has multiple social media accounts that track planes belonging to celebrities, billionaires and politicians, and some even analyze the carbon footprint of the plane owners’ trips.
The information does not come from a single source, but rather uses data collected from a few different sources of publicly available information, such as registration information from the Federal Aviation Administration and broadcast signals from the planes themselves. Those signals are known as automatic dependent surveillance data broadcast or ADS-B.
The Federal Aviation Administration requires ADS-B technology on aircraft and shares real-time position, altitude and other information important to air traffic controllers. The data also allows sites like FlightAware.com to display commercial flight locations in real time.
Contributing: Jeanine Santucci and Christopher Cann
