Chainkeen|Taylor Swift thinks jet tracker Jack Sweeney knows her 'All too Well,' threatens legal action

Taylor Swift can't seem to shake this one off.

Swift,Chainkeen who just celebrated making Grammy history Monday night, thinks a college student who tracks the private jet paths of high-profile figures knows her "All too Well," leading her team to threaten legal action against the 21-year-old.

Swift's lawyers have sent more than one letter to Jack Sweeney, a University of Central Florida junior, demanding that he stop tracking and sharing her flight information online as part of an ongoing project that originally shot him to fame in 2022.

Sweeney, who received the first cease-and-desist in December, manages several social media accounts tracking the travel of celebrities, politicians and billionaires, with many focusing on the frequent use of private jets and the carbon footprints they produce. He received a second letter last month, again threatening legal action if he continued to post about Swift's movements, the Washington Post first reported.

Swift's team argued in the letters that Sweeney is putting the popstar at risk, providing up-to-date location information for stalkers and would-be harassers. Sweeney told The Post, however, that the information he shares is already publicly available. He is no stranger to taking heat from big names, as he was infamously threatened by Elon Musk for posting the same information back in 2022.

No lawsuits have been filed yet, but news of the legal letters has re-sparked a conversation about free speech, public interest and privacy expectations. Here's what we know so far.

Who is Jack Sweeney and why does he do jet-tracking?

Jack Sweeney is a 21-year-old college student at the University of Central Florida who has drawn the attention - and ire - of Musk, Ron DeSantis and other prominent figures after he began a project tracking their private jet use.

Sweeney was booted from X by Musk, who called his account "a security risk" and argued the information shared constituted doxxing. After Sweeney refused a $5,000 offer from Musk to remove the account, the tech mogul banned it himself, with Instagram and Facebook following suit. However, some of Sweeney's individual tracking accounts remain active on Instagram, he maintains several on other platforms like Bluesky, Mastodon, Discord and Telegram, and he skirts X's formerly stated live tracking "doxxing" rules by posting updates for Musk and Swift’s flights on a 24-hour delay.

In a 2022 interview with USA TODAY, Sweeney said he had about 30 accounts at the time dedicated to tracking the jet use of specific figures. "There's celebrity jets – you have like Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian. All kinds of other billionaires," he said. "There's also even accounts that don't track people and their jets. It tracks like NASA aircraft or experimental aircraft."

Along with recording and sharing the takeoffs and landings of private aircraft used by prominent people, Sweeney also estimates the carbon emissions produced by these trips, drawing attention to the controversial issue of luxury celebrity travel and its environmental impact. Besides Swift and Musk, he has opened accounts for Donald Trump, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, all of which remain active on Instagram and other platforms.

While Musk claimed that information about his flights was "private data," Sweeney his data from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), a source open and available to the public, and aviation hobbyists who track aircraft signals using an ADS-B receiver, a device available to anyone.

Flight records are public information maintained and made publicly available via the FAA, though operators can request their real-time movements remain private via the FAA's PIA program. The Post reported that Swift's jet information appears to now be blocked under the program, but enthusiasts are still able to share their collected data on independent websites, which are not covered by the PIA program.

USA TODAY has reached out to Sweeney for comment.

Taylor Swift jet tracker sent cease-and-desist notice

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The Washington Post reported that Swift's lawyers sent a cease-and-desist letter to Sweeney and threatened to pursue further legal action if Sweeney did not stop what they called "stalking and harassing behavior.”

Lawyer Katie Wright Morrone, working for law firm Venable, wrote that Sweeney was putting Swift's safety and that of her family at risk by sharing location information, saying his actions had heightened the star's “constant state of fear for her personal safety."

"While this may be a game to you, or an avenue that you hope will earn you wealth or fame, it is a life-or-death matter for our Client. Ms. Swift has dealt with stalkers and other individuals who wish her harm," the letter continues, arguing that the flight tracking data is of “no legitimate interest in or public need for this information, other than to stalk, harass, and exert dominion and control.”

Swift opened up about her stalkers in an essay for Elle in 2019 where she talked about websites posting all her home addresses and the first aid equipment she keeps on her at all times.

Sweeney previously told USA TODAY in a Q&A about Musk that the tech mogul's concern about his family's safety was a "valid concern" but argued the information "is all out there. It’s not like I’m hacking a system or anything. It’s all out there."

He responded similarly to this incident, telling the Washington Post, “This information is already out there. Her team thinks they can control the world.”

Swift's spokesperson Tree Paine told USA TODAY in a statement, "We cannot comment on any ongoing police investigation but can confirm the timing of stalkers suggests a connection. His posts tell you exactly when and where she would be."

Despite the repeated letters, no lawsuit has been filed up to this point. USA TODAY has reached out to Morrone for comment.

Celebrities, digital data and privacy laws: water that remains murky

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Cobun Zweifel-Keegan, Managing Director, D.C., of the International Association of Privacy Professionals, told USA TODAY that legal standards for privacy are struggling to catch up to the digital age, but celebrities have always had different expectations for privacy compared to the average citizen.

"In the United States, you do not have a right to privacy in publicly available information, that is true across contexts and there's very few exceptions to how that operates," he told USA TODAY, adding that there currently are no federal privacy laws covering consumer data.

He said it can be especially difficult for individuals to sue for alleged violations of privacy based on publicly available information. There are some standards under which people can take legal action for the sharing of knowledge, including the unauthorized disclosure of private information, which would most likely apply to this case.

Advancements in technology, he said, have made it possible for information that may have been technically available to the public but unlikely to be uncovered by the average person easier to find, share and amplify.