College Freshman Jack Sweeney recently launched 15 Twitter bots tracking the private plans of tech billionaires, including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. But that which is by far the most popular is that of Musk’s Jet, with over 300K followers. While the information Sweeney, 19, relies on is all public, his program entails sophisticated knowledge to match transponder frequencies with separately available anonymous flight plans.
Jack Sweeney has refused to take down his Elon Musk private jet tracker account on Twitter for a free Tesla Model 3.
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According to Protocol, which first reported the saga, Sweeney’s program relies on data from multiple public sources to track flight plans that are otherwise not readily available to the public. However, the popularity of the @ElonJet appears to have discomforted Musk, who contacted the teen to request he remove the account to prevent “crazy people” from tracking his movements.The Twitter account @ElonJet has received significant popularity and has garnered over 354,000 followers.
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Musk had previously offered the 19-Year-Old $5,000 in exchange for the account being taken down.
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“I don’t love the idea of being shot by a nutcase,” Musk had told Sweeney, who’s studying information technology in their DM conversation. He urged the teen to take the account down earlier in the fall in exchange for $5000, but he ultimately refused and asked for an internship instead. Yet again, Car-hire company Autonomy CEO Scott Painter then offered a Tesla Model 3 under a three-year contract in exchange for the account deletion.Just recently, car-hire company CEO Scott Painter offered the Tesla Model 3 to Sweeney on Twitter.
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Sweeney, however, says he does not want the Tesla Model 3 but wants his permanent vehicle.
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“I told you I’m not interested in a subscription; besides, there are numerous facts that suggest this is in connection with Elon,” Sweeney said in response on Twitter, adding that he decided he wants his car rather than a temporary model. He also told Wall Street Journal: “I want my car. I don’t want to have to give it back in three years. If I got an actual Tesla, then I would take it down.”
When Sweeney explained to Musk how his system works, the billionaire seemed surprised the information was publicly accessible.
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When Sweeney explained to Musk how his system works, the billionaire had reportedly seemed surprised the information was publicly accessible, commenting, “Air traffic control is primitive.” He also asked the teen how much he made from the accounts, which he said was no more than $20 monthly. In a separate tweet, Sweeney shared Musk used a blocking program to prevent being tracked but added: “Already found the aircraft.”Sweeney's program relies on data from multiple public sources to track flight plans for Musk's jet, which are otherwise not readily available to the public.
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The billionaire's private jet was last reported landing in Austin at around 5:50om ET Wednesday.
The @ElonJet account then shared how it tracked Musk’s jet flying from Los Angeles to Austin, Texas, where it landed at around 5:50om ET. At that moment, Musk was actually on a conference call with Tesla investors, with thousands listening in live from worldwide. On his tracker account, Sweeney stated: “We track the plane, not who may or may not be on board.”
The Tesla Silicon Valley Club has also reacted, saying It's getting out of hand!
