celeb news Taylor Swift’s lawyers threaten legal action against student who tracks her jet

[bluebirdsforever]

Taylor Swift's legal team have been the walking, talking Streisand effect of the music industry for as long as I can remember. This response seems disproportionate but I also have questions about whether these jet-tracking accounts are fit-for-purpose.

I've always thought the way they publish their information does pose a legitimate threat for public figures of Taylor's statue. There are countless ways to report live on the carbon emissions she is responsible for generating, and even the distance of her flights, without revealing her destination. "Taylor Swift's jet X traveled Y miles and emitted Z tonnes" achieves the exact same purpose without megaphoning potentially sensitive information. 

 

I can very easily see why someone like Taylor, who is incredibly fearful of her personal safety (and for good reason), would be very unnerved by live reporting of where she is going to be and when - it's worth noting these accounts are essentially unmanned bots, so the updates were automatic and by-the-minute (I think the rules were recently updated and now require a 1-hour buffer?). I know the impulse here is to read her intentions as uncharitably as possible, but this is the same woman who travels with wound gauze in her purse whenever she appears in public. Her flights are "public info" but you need to know where to find that information, and most people do not. I'd wager 99% of us in this thread wouldn't even know where to start, but all of us know how to search "Taylor Swift jet" on Twitter/X.

Either way, I very much doubt this will go anywhere - do they even have legal standing? The goal was to get the account taken down, and it seems that goal was already achieved way back when the letter was sent in December.

[Marianah Adkins]

What did she expect. She’s apparently the biggest star in the world. Ofc her location is public domain. MJ, Madonna and Beatles also had the same issues back then and yet they did not sue. 

Also, its so easy to track planes. The FlightRadar app alone lmao 

 

Of all the problems in the world, she decided to sue over this very small inconvenience. The other one who did the same thing is Musk. Very telling. 

[Erreur2 La Nature]

She is going too far. If you don’t care about the environment it’s one thing but straight up threatening someone who just post legal informations about your activities and pretending it causes her some emotional distress is sick.

[ClashAndBurn]

 

[Villas]

B***, she should be scrutinized for eco terrorism

[MattieB]

21 hours ago, Headlock said:

Or, she doesn't want her stalkers knowing her real time location. Who could imagine that would cause distress to somebody? 

 

Taylor deserves to be called out for her CO2 emissions, which can be done without live tracking her jet's course constantly.

oh please, save the bullshit. Is she the only celeb to be famous/popular? Yall will defend hitler if he made music yall liked. despicable and disgusting

 

you realize youre one of the very few defending this

 

stan culture truly rotted yall brains

[GraceRandolph]

 

[Phaunzie]

2 hours ago, ClashAndBurn said:

 

 

Also, not the 'her stalkers' excuses. Swifties, some of y'all need help.

Edited February 7 by Phaunzie

[kelsea]

3 hours ago, Marianah Adkins said:

MJ, Madonna and Beatles also had the same issues back then and yet they did not sue. 

Yeah, this. I forgot these acts had social media at the time so it could be reported in real time. Thanks for reminding me. 

[rihxnicki]

3 hours ago, bluebirdsforever said:

I've always thought the way they publish their information does pose a legitimate threat for public figures of Taylor's statue. There are countless ways to report live on the carbon emissions she is responsible for generating, and even the distance of her flights, without revealing her destination. "Taylor Swift's jet X traveled Y miles and emitted Z tonnes" achieves the exact same purpose without megaphoning potentially sensitive information. 

Not really though? The news reports on things like Air Force One and the planes that the British monarchy use all the time, and that is broadcast to millions of people at a time, live. Some Twitter account that you have to seek out to check on your favourite pop star is not the same as broadcasted news worldwide. Other celebrities have faced the same sort of backlash also, like the Kardashians and Beyoncé.
 

Maybe Taylor just needs to realise that people would probably criticise her a lot less if 1. she didn’t try to intimidate and sue someone for posting public information that we can all look up, or 2. stop using the private jets as ridiculously as she does. She does not need to fly back and forth from South America multiple times a week in between shows just so that she can go to dinner with her friends, she can organise those paparazzi shots for when she’s finished with that leg of the tour.

[MattieB]

22 hours ago, Tudors said:

She's allowed to not care about the environment. Let her emit

Brain rot

[bluebirdsforever]

19 minutes ago, rihxnicki said:

Not really though? The news reports on things like Air Force One and the planes that the British monarchy use all the time, and that is broadcast to millions of people at a time, live.

I am not making a value judgement about the frequency of Taylor's flights, only the necessity of amplifying the real-time destination of a woman who is routinely followed by murderous stalkers (including one who was arrested no less than two weeks ago outside one of her homes). There is a world of difference between the President of the United States waving from his jet on a news broadcast and what I'm describing.

 

19 minutes ago, rihxnicki said:

Some Twitter account that you have to seek out to check on your favourite pop star is not the same as broadcasted news worldwide.

People checking for "their favourite pop star" are not the concern. It's people like this.

 

"Please post her emissions as they happen and as often as you like, but not her real-time location" is not a remotely controversial statement, and one most people would agree with.

[Keeandga]

7 minutes ago, bluebirdsforever said:

I am not making a value judgement about the frequency of Taylor's flights, only the necessity of amplifying the real-time destination of a woman who is routinely followed by murderous stalkers (including one who was arrested no less than two weeks ago outside one of her homes). There is a world of difference between the President of the United States waving from his jet on a news broadcast and what I'm describing.

 

People checking for "their favourite pop star" are not the concern. It's people like this.

 

"Please post her emissions as they happen and as often as you like, but not her real-time location" is not a remotely controversial statement, and one most people would agree with.

I understand the stalkers and get why she could be worried but couldn’t the stalker himself get ahold of this information himself? Also don’t they already delay it by 24 hrs? This is all public information so there’s nothing she can do really. 
How is someone going to follow/stalk her if she’s going to different countries? I assume the people stalking her don’t also have access to a private jet. 

[rihxnicki]

3 minutes ago, Keeandga said:

I understand the stalkers and get why she could be worried but couldn’t the stalker himself get ahold of this information himself? Also don’t they already delay it by 24 hrs? This is all public information so there’s nothing she can do really. 
How is someone going to follow/stalk her if she’s going to different countries? I assume the people stalking her don’t also have access to a private jet. 

Did you not know? The stalker is gonna hide in the landing gear and kill her with his knife when she gets off!!!!!

[bluebirdsforever]

4 minutes ago, Keeandga said:

I understand the stalkers and get why she could be worried but couldn’t the stalker himself get ahold of this information himself? Also don’t they already delay it by 24 hrs? This is all public information so there’s nothing she can do really. 
How is someone going to follow/stalk her if she’s going to different countries? I assume the people stalking her don’t also have access to a private jet. 

They definitely can, but the account made it a lot easier to access - even with delayed publishing, "Taylor Swift landed in New York" 24 hours ago gives you a pretty definite idea of where she is currently staying. Her stalkers typically try and get access to her via her homes (and succeed at getting inside more often than you'd think).

 

Just now, rihxnicki said:

Did you not know? The stalker is gonna hide in the landing gear and kill her with his knife when she gets off!!!!!

This is really not something to make light of.

[suburbannature]

Do Swifties think mass disliking posts will make things go away?  
 

edit: the INSTANT warning point from a certain mod. I yelped. 
 

Edited February 7 by suburbannature

[Keeandga]

1 minute ago, bluebirdsforever said:

They definitely can, but the account made it a lot easier to access - even with delayed publishing, "Taylor Swift landed in New York" 24 hours ago gives you a pretty definite idea of where she is currently staying. Her stalkers typically try and get access to her via her homes (and succeed at getting inside more often than you'd think).

 

This is really not something to make light of.

Well it’s public knowledge then there’s really no argument to be made bc a stalker wanted to, they could find it, it’s easy. She has security for a reason, plus these people are able to travel around like Taylor so the stalker thing doesn’t fully make sense (only slightly & then again she has security). Swifties constantly using Olympic style mental gymnastics. 

[rihxnicki]

2 minutes ago, bluebirdsforever said:

"Taylor Swift landed in New York" 24 hours ago gives you a pretty definite idea of where she is currently staying

Does it? You never know, the plane could be transporting her cats as it has in the past. Or maybe her friends are using the plane, which the Swifties love to use as an excuse. She might even be doing a quick stop in New York to see her boyfriend for a few hours, then flying a few thousand miles back to her next show.
 

The point that everyone is trying to make is that there is no excuse to fly as much as she does, and she’s just mad that people have a valid reason to criticise her so she’s playing the victim as usual while trying to intimidate someone at the same time.

[bluebirdsforever]

12 minutes ago, Keeandga said:

Well it’s public knowledge then there’s really no argument to be made bc a stalker wanted to, they could find it, it’s easy. She has security for a reason, plus these people are able to travel around like Taylor so the stalker thing doesn’t fully make sense (only slightly & then again she has security). Swifties constantly using Olympic style mental gymnastics. 

To make myself plain:

 

Taylor Swift uses her jet far too much. She, and other celebrities who misuse their private jet access (which is most of them), should be held to account. However, I don't think that means her location should be broadcasted and made easier to access. The fact that me saying "this is an overreaction; however, in saying that, this Twitter account has every right to post her jet use but should avoid providing updates on her exact location" is causing this much discourse is frankly surprising to me. We agree on everything except that one point.

 

12 minutes ago, rihxnicki said:

The point that everyone is trying to make is that there is no excuse to fly as much as she does, and she’s just mad that people have a valid reason to criticise her so she’s playing the victim as usual while trying to intimidate someone at the same time.

And, as if I have said repeatedly, I am not excusing her jet use. But someone who is routinely stalked by men with ill intent fearing for her safety is not "playing the victim."

 

It's not about Swifties this, Swifties that - it's a genuine difference of opinion about the ease through which I think a laundry list of stalkers who have managed to bypass her security should be able to access information about her location.

[Keeandga]

6 minutes ago, bluebirdsforever said:

To make myself plain:

 

Taylor Swift uses her jet far too much. She, and other celebrities who misuse their private jet access (which is most of them), should be held to account. However, I don't think that means her location should be broadcasted and made easier to access. The fact that me saying "this is an overreaction; however, in saying that, this Twitter account has every right to post her jet use but should avoid providing updates on her exact location" is causing this much discourse is frankly surprising to me. We agree on everything except that one point.

 

And, as if I have said repeatedly, I am not excusing her jet use. But someone who is routinely stalked by men with ill intent fearing for her safety is not "playing the victim."

 

It's not about Swifties this, Swifties that - it's a genuine difference of opinion about the ease through which I think a laundry list of stalkers who have managed to bypass her security should be able to access information about her location.

The thing about her location being broadcasted is anyone who wants to find it can & will find it, so it being documented on Twitter really doesn’t make all that difference, so It’s just semantics. 
My swiftie comment wasn’t about you (If it doesn’t apply let it fly). 

[bluebirdsforever]

15 minutes ago, Keeandga said:

The thing about her location being broadcasted is anyone who wants to find it can & will find it, so it being documented on Twitter really doesn’t make all that difference, so It’s just semantics. 

This reminds me that I don't think people realise how difficult it actually is to track Taylor's jets outside of these bots.

 

They don't appear on any of the commonly used commercial flight trackers for these exact security reasons, per her team's request. In order to access the information, you need to input her flight's "raw data" (which you also need to know beforehand) into more obscure websites more commonly used by criminal investigators. Keep in mind she also, until recently, owned multiple jets - which meant that you also needed to know the data for whichever aircraft she was using at the time. "It's public information" doesn't mean it is easily accessible information - the reason why these Twitter accounts received so much publicity in the first place is because they rely on complicated bots in order to locate and then publish all this information in one place. 

 

So it's not "just semantics," it's genuinely a world of difference. Of course there are surely people who go to the above effort, but arguing that trying to protect yourself from those who don't (which, from the profile of Taylor's stalkers, is most of them) is semantics does not quite add up.

[Outlaws]

13 min flights?

[jonapova]

When is Greta gonna ask her for a bare knuckle fight?

 

It must be annoying to have people know where you are at any given time, but you’re a celebrity… what do you expect. You created a fandom of obsessed people. No sympathy

[kyoshi]

5 hours ago, ClashAndBurn said:

 

Funny how cuban's bestie can't post this under his viral tweet, he couldn't be more disingenuous 

 

 

[Rep2000]

6 hours ago, Marianah Adkins said:

What did she expect. She’s apparently the biggest star in the world. Ofc her location is public domain. MJ, Madonna and Beatles also had the same issues back then and yet they did not sue. 

 

Umm . And what happened to that one guy in the Beatles again?