To many out there, technology is something that is not only beautiful, it's vital to
their livelihoods in big ways and small ways.
Whether it be something as simple as a being on a computer and looking up videos, to driving
a car to where you work, playing a video game, or chatting with friends online, technology
helps people.
But, in the wrong hands, it can also cause people to stress out about certain things.
Like being "followed" online and off.
Which is something that Elon Musk knows all about believe it or not.
Allow us to show you how Elon Musk Gets OWNED By Teen Who Tracks His Private Jet!
5.
Jack Sweeney A 19-year-old famous for his Twitter account
that tracks Elon Musk's private jet has made a lot of headlines this month.
Mainly because this isn't the kind of thing you typically hear of.
But it absolutely happens, and the kid behind it is named Jack Sweeney.
And needless to say, Elon Musk has not exactly been happy to have this kid tracking him like
he odes.
In fact, he offered a free Tesla to delete the Twitter handle – but Sweeney rejected
the offer.
Jack Sweeney had said previously that he'd take a free Tesla from Musk in exchange for
deleting the account, having rejected an offer of $5,000 from the Tesla CEO.
On Twitter, Scott Painter, CEO of Autonomy, a car-hire company, offered Sweeney a subscription
to a Tesla Model 3 if he deleted the Musk jet-tracking account.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the offer was for a three-year subscription.
Sweeney responded: "I told you I'm not interested in a subscription besides, there are numerous
facts that suggest this is in conjunction with Elon."
In an interview with The Journal, Sweeney explained why he came to his decision.
"I want my own car.
I don't want to have to give it back in three years," he said.
"If I got an actual Tesla, then I would take it down."
His jet-tracking account uses bots that monitor publicly-available air-traffic data.
After turning down $5,000 from Musk to delete the account, Sweeney told Insider he refused
the offer because it wasn't enough to replace the satisfaction he gets from running the
account.
In his initial conversation with Musk, which occurred via Twitter direct messages in fall
2021 and was first reported by Protocol, Musk said: "Can you take this down?
It is a security risk."
Sweeney replied: "Yes I can but it'll cost you a Model 3 only joking unless?"
Musk responded: "How about $5k for this account and generally helping make it harder for crazy
people to track me?"
Sweeney said: "Sounds doable, account and all my help.
Any chance to up that to $50K?"
He cited college funding and told the billionaire the money could go toward buying a Tesla Model
3.
Yeah, needless to say, this is a pretty scary thing.
Not because someone found a way to do this online via bots, that would've happened inevitably.
But rather that he was turning down a lot of things because he LIKES to do this.
That is scary no matter how you look at it.
And trust us when we say...it gets weirder. 4.
The Job Offer The tech-savvy teenager told The Post that
Stratos Jet Charters, an Orlando-based private charter flight firm, was impressed enough
to offer him a job on its tech development team.
Stratos competes in the sector with Wheels Up, NetJets and other private jet services.
“It was pretty cool.
They’re UCF alumni, so it’s pretty interesting,” Sweeney told the Post.
“There’s just a lot of UCF that think it’s cool.”
Sweeney told The Post he is “not sure” yet if he will accept the offer, given his
other obligations.
The college student noted he already works as a part-time app developer for UberJets,
another private charter firm.
Stratos’s CEO Joel Thomas, a UCF alum, confirmed he has been in touch with Sweeney about working
for the company.
Thomas told The Post the college student “showed his creativity” by creating the jet-tracking
accounts.
Sweeney’s knowledge of real-time flight tracking data could help Stratos make “more
efficient inquiries of suppliers and predict flight times more accurately,” he added.
“Understanding that he is currently enrolled at UCF, Stratos is happy to work with him
on a project basis, part-time or internship to help him further his educational goals,”
Thomas told the Post.
So yeah, this kid found a way to track jets and is exposing it to a lot of people, and
as a result, he gets a job offer!
What a world we live in.
The @ElonJet account has gained more than 200,000 followers since The Post and other
outlets reported on his direct message conversation with Musk.
However, the public exposure appears to have rankled Musk, who has blocked Sweeney’s
personal Twitter account.
Sweeney expressed regret about that development.
“He didn’t have to block me,” Sweeney said.
“I can get why he’s mad.
Some of them, they don’t like the news, so if it’s all over the news, you can totally
see why he would be like that.”
Sweeney said receiving the direct message from Musk, whom he described as his idol,
was a surreal experience.
“I was just about to go to sleep actually, and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh Elon just messaged
me to take down my account’,” he said.
“It was insane.”
Oh, and that's another thing right there.
He's not only tracking Elon Musk with these bots...
3.
Other Accounts Sweeney said he had created 16 automated Twitter
accounts, or bots, similar to @ElonJet to follow jets owned by Microsoft co-founder
Bill Gates (@GatesJet), Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, the billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban and
the rapper Drake.
In an interview with the Guardian, Sweeney said he had also created a website, Ground
Control, to “monetize” the service by offering bespoke tracking services to celebrities’
superfans and to host web versions of the Twitter bots if the microblogging site closes
his accounts because of privacy concerns raised by the subjects.
“They’re either really prominent people or just like really interesting,” Sweeney
said of the people he tracks.
“Lately I have been adding people that [his followers] have requested.”
Recent accounts he has set up after requests include Cuban and Drake, who he said was the
most interesting.
“He has the biggest plane out of all of them, it is a giant Boeing.”
The rapper’s plane, Air Drake, is a $185m 59ft-long Boeing 767-200ER that can carry
216 passengers.
Now, on the surface, this may not seem like the worst thing ever.
All he's doing is tracking jets and posting where they are at any given moment.
It's hardly the weirdest thing that people have done to track people they like, right?
Well... 2.
Security Issues Here's the thing, while it's true that Elon
Musk isn't the most...put together guy at times, he's usually right about a lot of things
when it comes to technology (Crypto doesn't apply here), and he is on the nose here in
why this is a security risk.
Think about it like this.
The Paparazzi are trying to follow celebrities around so that they can get the best pictures,
right?
But now imagine that they post where the celeb is before they take the photos of them?
If someone was nearby, they could go and be a part of the "mob" and make things even harder
for the celebrity.
But now imagine that this information got into the hands of someone who wanted to HURT
one of those celebrities?
Exactly, that is a bit more dangerous, wouldn't you say?
Not the least of which is because those who are on planes or jets are much more vulnerable
than when they are in a crowd and surrounded by their security.
And if someone knew where their plane was, that would give them the chance to plan around
certain things before said plane takes off again, or be ready for them when it lands.
We're not saying that this was Jack Sweeney's intent when he made his thing, but if something
can be used, so too can it be abused.
1.
Being Careful While it's fair to say that Sweeney was clever
in how he got this all to happen, so too can we say that he should refrain from doing it
or things like it in the future.
Yes, he's just "having fun", but this fun could indeed lead to someone, like Elon Musk,
getting hurt.
Which we're pretty sure he doesn't want.
And of course, if technology like his bots can be used for such purposes of tracking
jets, who's to say what people won't get inspired by this and try and do something just as bad,
if not worse?
That's why you have to be careful with what you put out into the world, because who knows
who might come along and try to use it for other purposes than what you inteded.
So what do you think?
What do you think of this look at the private jet "scandal" that is going on between Elon
Musk and that teen hacker?
Are you surprised that someone is able to get away with this and that he's getting job
offers and might also start following other celebrities?
Does this make you fear technology even more given how easily it can be abused?
Let us know in the comments below, and we'll see you next time on the channel!