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Taylor Swift launches legal broadside at a college student who tracks private jets via public data (www.seattletimes.com)
submitted 2 years ago by GlitzyArmrest@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world
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In late December, Swift’s camp hit Jack Sweeney, a junior studying information technology at the University of Central Florida, with a cease-and-desist letter that blamed his automated tracking of her private jet for tipping off stalkers as to her location. In the letter, attorneys from the law firm Venable accused Sweeney of effectively providing “individuals intent on harming her, or with nefarious or violent intentions, a roadmap to carry out their plans.”

Sweeney provided the link to that letter in an email to the Associated Press. In that message, he 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 that their jet will be tracked, whether or not I’m the one doing it, as it is public information after all,” he wrote.

A spokesperson for Swift echoed the legal complaint, saying that “the timing of stalkers” suggests a connection to Sweeney’s flight-tracking sites. The spokesperson did not respond to questions seeking elaboration of that charge, such as whether stalkers have been seen waiting for Swift at the airport when her plane arrived or, alternatively, if there is evidence that stalkers have somehow inferred Swift’s subsequent location from the arrival time of her flight.

The legal letter likewise accuses Sweeney of “disregarding the personal safety of others”; “willful and repeated harassment of our client”; and “intentional, offensive, and outrageous conduct and consistent violations of our client’s privacy.”

Such statements are difficult to square with the fact that Sweeney’s automated tracking accounts merely repackage public data provided by the Federal Aviation Administration, a government agency. That fact did not dissuade the Venable attorneys, who demanded that Sweeney “immediately stop providing information about our client’s location to the public.”

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[-] VieuxQueb@lemmy.ca 41 points 2 years ago

Well, I had no opinion of her since I don't follow her entertainment. And I did not care about her. I thought sheust be not so bad to have such a following but now she publicly displayed she is as deranged and out of touch as the other billionaires out there. Thus I now have an opinion on her and it's not good.

[-] BassTurd@lemmy.world 23 points 2 years ago

Her music is not for me, but I've never had anything against her. I have grown to support her a little in the past year or so for taking shots at Ticketmaster. This jet thing offsets the Ticketmaster things plus some. My opinion of her is now at a net negative.

Hopefully she's not close to this personally, and she can call it off, but that sure doesn't seem likely.

[-] CosmoNova@lemmy.world 14 points 2 years ago

but now she publicly displayed she is as deranged and out of touch as the other billionaires out there

Well you said you didn't follow her at all so that might come as a minor surprise to you, but she's always been incredibly entitled and out of touch with normal people. Even before, but especially since she became a billionaire. She was one of the artists pulling her music from Spotify at one point, which is fine but she argued that her music has a certain value that she expects people to pay for, implying her music is too good for streaming or you know... poor people.

[-] SeaJ@lemm.ee 13 points 2 years ago

I don't think she has ever really been in touch with the average person. Her dad is a stock broker who could afford to fund her enough for her to get a big break. Nothing against her personally since she seems decent enough. But she also has a case of afluenza that we can help cure her of. She has alternatives: use a tour bus or charter a private plane.

this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2024
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