Premium
3 min read . Updated: 06 Feb 2022, 05:12 PM IST Jack Sweeney, a Florida student, says he won’t give up his hobby for anything less than his dream car
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.
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.
“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."
Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!!