I think this article provides insight into Musk.
A college freshman who is publicly tracking the whereabouts of Elon Musk’s private jet has one request that would make him halt the endeavor.

A new Tesla Model 3.

Jack Sweeney, a 19-year-old University of Central Florida student, has made a hobby out of following the private jets belonging to billionaire entrepreneurs and even some celebrities.

Using public data from plane transponders that log longitude, latitude and altitude, Mr. Sweeney, in 2020, created an algorithm that calculates the whereabouts of a Gulfstream G650ER he says belongs to Mr. Musk, the chief executive officer of Tesla Inc.


Jack Sweeney tracks the private jets of billionaire entrepreneurs and some celebrities.
PHOTO: JACK SWEENEY
He shares the information publicly on Twitter, just as he does for planes owned by Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft Corp. ’s Bill Gates, among others.



Mr. Sweeney’s Twitter account, @ElonJet, has amassed nearly 350,000 followers. He sells T-shirts, makes money off online ads and has attracted both positive and negative attention for the account—including from Mr. Musk himself, who wants it shut down, Mr. Sweeney said.

Mr. Musk didn’t respond to a request for comment.


The Twitter account that follows the whereabouts of the jet flown by Tesla CEO Elon Musk has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers.
PHOTO: MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS
“I’ve created something,” Mr. Sweeney said. “It’s something valuable, and if it’s blowing up this much, that means people are interested.”

Mr. Sweeney said Mr. Musk asked him to shut down the Twitter account in late November. Mr. Sweeney said he refused. Mr. Sweeney said Mr. Musk then offered him $5,000 to close the account, according to screenshots of the conversation Mr. Sweeney shared with The Wall Street Journal, which couldn’t independently verify their authenticity.

Their exchange continued, Mr. Sweeney said, with Mr. Sweeney asking for $50,000 and later an internship. Mr. Musk blocked him on social media on Jan. 23, the college freshman said.

“If I got an actual Tesla, then I would take it down,” he said in a Friday interview.


The starting price of a Model 3—without incentives—is about $44,990, according to the Tesla website.

Another automotive entrepreneur tried to persuade Mr. Sweeney with a similar offer in recent days.

Scott Painter, chief executive of Autonomy, a subscription service that lets clients lease the Model 3 for roughly $550 a month, offered to give Mr. Sweeney a car free of charge for three years if he would permanently remove the Twitter account. Autonomy isn’t affiliated with Tesla.

“He’s getting a lot of attention, and it’s not necessarily the greatest attention,” Mr. Painter said in an interview. “He’s in a tricky spot, and we offered him an elegant solution that we think works for him, and it works for us.”

Mr. Sweeney balked at the offer, which included a written contract from Autonomy. “I’m not giving up something that I like for something that I don’t completely want,” he said. “I want my own car. I don’t want to have to give it back in three years.”

Mr. Sweeney has received some heat from online critics who argue his Twitter bots are a security risk for Mr. Musk and the others he follows.

Mary Schiavo, former inspector general for the Transportation Department, said she saw little cause for concern. The transponder signals that Mr. Sweeney taps for his Twitter bots are public information, said Ms. Schiavo, an aviation attorney and former pilot.


“In most cases, by law, those transponders have to be on,” she said.

She noted that federal and local authorities have well-established air and ground security protocols at airports.

The Federal Aviation Administration keeps a database of all registered plane tail numbers, along with the craft’s owner and its pilots, all of which is open to the public, she said.

Numerous websites and online programs track flights across the world, Ms. Schiavo added, so Mr. Sweeney’s Twitter bots aren’t the only place to get access to such data.

“As I read this situation, this young man came up with something very clever and he put it out there,” Ms. Schiavo said. “If Elon Musk wants to go anonymous for $5,000 and the kid wants a Tesla, that sounds like an offer and a counter offer.”

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/t...=4&mod=WTRN#cxrecs_s

That brings up an interesting point.

The U.S. aircraft registration database is public information, as is much of the data about aircraft movement (flight).

Road vehicle registration is not public.

Why the difference? Sure, I understand that one is federal, the other is state, but I'm wondering what the reason is for the difference.

I am not advocating for one or the other (public information vs. private), I'm just curious about it.

He sounds like a paparazzi thug. His parents must be proud.

Would giving into and rewarding him for being a professional creep bring about more privacy invasion as a viable method to shake down someone with wealth?

The kid needs to get a job in government. Hell I’d probably hire him to keep my enemy’s close but maybe Musk doesn’t like being bullied or shaken down over his movements. It’s creepy as fuck to track people and try to shake them down for money is it not?

What would you do if some creep was tracking you and asking for money to stop?

Is this same standard applied to VIP politicians? What makes them special? They are fucking up your life much more than Elon. Maybe by letting it happen Elon is drawing attention to the hypocrisy of our society in that some are afforded privacy while others are not. Hmmmmm that’s an interesting thing to ponder. Is the right to privacy not universal?

Is your right to privacy relative to your political standing?

Yes, it is creepy AF. That said, a guy who owns a local car lot flies out if the local airport in a jet. It’s the only jet that ever flies in and out of this little airport. If you look up all the info from the flights, as I did, because I’m a curious person, I found out that the jet is leased. Owner is a company out of Vegas. Same as the pilot. Only reason I know Larry Green is the one flying, because this is a small town.

I would imagine if Musk really wanted to be anonymous, it would be pretty easy.

Who is to say he isn’t adjusting accordingly and letting this continue to make a point? He isn’t a stupid person.

You’re likely correct. $50k to him, is the same as 0.0141 (1.41 CENTS) to me. He can easily afford to not be seen.

It ain’t about the money. Screw the extortion. I’d donate $500k and have the kid kicked out of school and then blacklisted at other schools. Have credit and loans blacklisted for him. Make him rue the day for trying to extort.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
It ain’t about the money. Screw the extortion. I’d donate $500k and have the kid kicked out of school and then blacklisted at other schools. Have credit and loans blacklisted for him. Make him rue the day for trying to extort.

exactly ^^^^^

According to the article Musk was the one who brought up money. So anyone saying it’s creepy or the kid is a blackmailer might want to calm down. By offering the money Musk became the John, now they’re simply haggling over the worth.

And hilariously one poster here says it’s creepy AF, then admits to doing essentially the same thing himself. Another poster states it is extortion (again, Musk offered the money) and wants to ruin someone’s life. That’s some moral thinking there.

It’s public information. As in available to anyone. Not private.

I think once Musk blocked him it was clear he wasn't getting jack squat. I'm guessing the reality of "I pay this kid ANYTHING to stop doing what he is doing, and then an untold number of people will pick up where he left off hoping for the same..." kicked in.

Why track it in the first place?

Just because said plane is sitting in an airport spot doesn't mean shit. Who was actually in it?

He could have sent it somewhere to pick someone up.... or not.
A few empty flights or sending people on vacation.

Some people need to get a life. Who really cares where someone's plane is sitting?
Other than the 'crazy' who might be looking for 'that' someone...

Mary Schiavo is an idiot.

The information is public. Numerous free and subscription sites already track and map nearly every aircraft on the planet, as well as maintain a history log, including estimated times of arrival and departure and actual times, and provide full flight information.

Tracking isn't by transponder, but ADS-B data, and it allows anyone who cares to watch to see ground track, airspeed, altitude, etc. Air Traffic Control can see the selectiosn on the instrument panel...not just what's being flown. There's a lot of data going back and forth. Not all of it is routinely accessible over commercial services, but it can be had.

A quick visit to Flight Radar 24, Air Aware, and other sites will allow you to track thousands of flights at any given time. Some operators can elect to have information not made public, but it doesn't take much to determine where those aircraft are, all the same.

A kid who wants to extort someone for public information is a special kind of snot-nosed entitlement.

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:
Mary Schiavo is an idiot.

…

A kid who wants to extort someone for public information is a special kind of snot-nosed entitlement.

How is Mary Schiavo an idiot? You simply expanded on what she said. It is public information. Exactly what about that makes her an idiot?

As for the kid, again Musk made it about money to take it down, not the kid.

The article says the kid already makes money off the info and his Twitter account. So the rather rude posters here think that public information of the rich should be specially and specifically made private and unknown?

The last paragraph says it all. Is this what everyone is so hurt about?
“As I read this situation, this young man came up with something very clever and he put it out there,” Ms. Schiavo said. “If Elon Musk wants to go anonymous for $5,000 and the kid wants a Tesla, that sounds like an offer and a counter offer.”

quote:

Originally posted by onegeek:

The article says the kid already makes money off the info and his Twitter account.

Then, it would be the 'kid' who brought 'money' to the table first....

I doubt the authenticity of the Musk offer. That was more likely a play on the kids part to garner attention and it worked.

Musk should just ignore him. Even private planes get leased all the time by other companies so just because his plane is flying it doesn’t mean he is. Besides who cares if he is I would be more interested in the sky is falling celebrities and politicians who claim the world won’t exist in 10 years if we don’t extort the general population for trillions of dollars to save the earth.

I’ve never heard Musk say he’s saving the planet by making electric cars but maybe he has. I always hear him say it’s based on the fact that fossil fuels are finite and electric motors are 98% efficient compared to ICE being 25%.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 1s1k,

I have a client with a Gulfstream 650. Flies between the Bay Area and A mountain estate in another state several times a month and other places as well I’m sure. It’s owned by an entity that is owned another entity and then a third entity owns that. Entities are all registered to a big time law office address in San Francisco It would be a huge PITA and likely need confidential info leaked by somebody as well to actually track down the human under all that. Lastly he’s a pretty cool guy just quite wealthy. He’d probly be impressed but I don’t think he’d pay ransom.

Elon has the juice where he could encourage the local sheriff via a sizeable campaign donation or maybe know a guy who knows a guy at the FAA law enforcement division to have a chat about what stalking is and what that entails With this kid. Yeah what he’s doing is legal and it’s public data. But file it under raised wrong and just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

Kudos to that kid and I hope he'll start tracking politicians' movements as well.

Aggregating public info to make it more accessible to people who don't know how to access the raw info is called "journalism".

I don't think it's creepy at all. Surely anyone in active competition for the title of "richest man in the world" has zero expectation of anonymity. They are being tracked by many governments and many intelligence agencies at all times, along with the press.

Now let's get the kid to track Al Gore's private jet, and all the other Global Warming alarmists and see how much CO2 they are creating with all of their flights to places where they excoriate average people for using a lot less energy then they do.

Paying off the kid doesn't solve the problem. The ADS-B data that the kid is using is public and readily accessible. Shut down this kid and 10 more take his place.

ElToro's client with the G650 can use all the nested entities he wants to disguise ownership of the plane, but its ADS-B data is readily available to anyone who knows how to access it and the plane can be tracked. The owner's privacy is due to the fact that he's not famous and no one cares about where he goes, not due to the fact that he uses various entities to own the plane. Every private jet owner uses entities to own the plane (for tax purposes mostly). Elon's jet is owned by an LLC - he didn't bother disguising his ownership though because he is listed as an officer of the LLC.

It should also be noted that the tracking of the planes is just that - it tracks the movement of the plane, not the passengers. There is no way to know if Elon is on the plane at any time. There could be ferry flights or other deadhead legs or flights with passengers other than Elon.