Taylor Swift's Legal Team Clashes with College Student Over Flight Tracking
- IndiaGlitz, [Wednesday,February 07 2024]
Lawyers for Taylor Swift sent a cease-and-desist letter to a Florida college student who operates social media pages that monitor the private planes of famous people.
University of Central Florida junior Jack Sweeney operated these accounts for years, pulling flight data from public sources like the Federal Aviation Administration and flight enthusiasts. Controversy arose when X (formerly Twitter) banned his accounts for sharing what Elon Musk referred to as assassination coordinates in the
Swift's lawyer had earlier sent Swift a warning not to harass her or her family in December. It reported fears over his stalking and harassing behavior. The letter presented the state of distress Swift and her family are in, in light of fears over their safety due to his activities.
Sweeney considers this to be an effort to shut down the sharing of public data and thinks Swift's team is overreacting. He says his posts contain only general information about flights and do not actually pose a danger to Swift.
Sweeney's case has brought back into the limelight the debate about privacy and free speech, with digital rights groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation backing him. Lawyer James Slater, who is representing Sweeney, says Swift's attorney has been making what he terms hyperbolic and unfounded claims.
A spokesman for Swift declined to comment on ongoing litigation but said the issues of privacy and security were of importance to the star. In the meantime, Sweeney also shared updates about the flight on alternative platforms, claiming that he was exercising his right to freedom of expression and access to public information.