I say, good luck.
Looks like Miss Americana is tired of the constant flight tracking. The singer’s lawyers have finally threatened legal action against Jack Sweeney, the 21-year-old college student behind the now-suspended social media accounts @taylorswiftjets, which had been used by Sweeney to post flight information of Swift’s private planes.
In the leaked cease and desist letter sent to Sweeney, Swift’s lawyers alleged that “through these Offending Accounts, you have engaged in stalking and harassing behaviour, including consistently publishing real-time and precise information about our Client’s location and future whereabouts to the public on social media.”
According to the lawyers, the 21-year-old’s actions pose an “imminent threat to the safety and wellbeing” of Swift and is a “life-or-death matter,” as the singer has had a history of dealing with stalkers since being a teenager, and as a result, is in constant fear for her personal safety.
The letter stressed that Sweeney’s actions were motivated to “stalk, harass and exert dominion and control,” causing “direct and irreparable harm, as well as emotional and physical distress” to Swift and her family.
While I understand and empathise with where Swift’s lawyers are coming from, I believe the cease and desist letter leaves much to be desired. It lacks an underlying cause of action, and I don’t see how his actions can be construed as violating any civil or criminal law. I could probably write a better version as a lawyer on copyright and trade mark infringement, specifying what laws and acts are in breach.
Reading through the letter, however, it seems Swift’s counsel is making empty threats.
While some have said this may into a defamation case, what’s happening is not really defamatory – Sweeney hasn’t said anything about Swift that will put her into disrepute. It’s more about the fear of safety and threats that can transpire as a result of knowing her whereabouts, which puts Swift and her family’s safety at risk.
After the cease and desist letter made its rounds, Sweeney told media outlets that, unlike what Swift’s lawyers claimed, he thinks that there is legitimate public interest surrounding the flight tracking of Swift’s private planes.
Sweeney has been quoted saying, “You should have a decent expectation that your jet will be tracked, whether or not I do it as, after all, it is public information.”
Sweeney also added that the letter’s timing was suspicious and was probably sent in response to “bad headlines” about Swift’s carbon emissions.
Sweeney has since responded formally to the cease and desist letter with the help of his lawyer. According to the student, there is nothing unlawful about the use of publicly accessible information to track private jets and that the @taylorswiftjets account is “engaged in protected speech that does not violate any of Ms. Swift’s legal rights.”
Sweeney’s lawyer also criticised the letter as a “groundless effort to intimidate and censor” the young man and his company, while pledging to defend both, should Swift “pursue meritless legal action.”
Personally, if I were to receive that cease and desist letter and I was in Sweeney’s shoes, my response would be ‘good luck’.
That’s not to say that his actions aren’t morally questionable. The activity on his account underscores a real problem in privacy, and I can sympathise with Swift on that front.
It’s not even his first rodeo. Sweeney has previously run social media accounts tracking the private jets of other celebrity figures, including Elon Musk and Mark Cuban,. Both personalities have expressed their concerns that allowing people to have access to this kind of information can put their lives and their families’ lives at risk.
Similarly, Elon Musk has threatened legal action against Sweeney after alleging that the latter’s aircraft-tracking account led to an incident involving his 3-year-old son.
But since that threat did not amount to an actual lawsuit, Sweeney must’ve realised that while celebrities may dislike him for tracking their flights, there’s actually not much they can do about it.
However frivolous these claims are, I would be more concerned about the fact that if Swift does slap him with a civil lawsuit, it will not be the singer’s loss. Even if it is a “meritless” legal action, it will still be costly.
If Taylor has the counsel and the budget, she can do everything to protect her reputation. Unlike her, I highly doubt Sweeney has the same machinery to take on this battle, should it ever come to fruition.
In his post detailing his lawyer’s response, Sweeney captioned it “Look What You Made Me Do,” the title from one of Taylor Swift’s songs. If he’s not careful, it will be Taylor singing those lyrics triumphantly in the end.
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