Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/02/19/read-the-cease-and-desist-demands-that-taylor-swifts-lawyers-sent-to-the-private-jet-tracker-and-his-response.html
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I can’t blame her (or her team) for trying to stop the tracking, considering very stable maga-land has targeted her as an enemy. However, for better or worse, the rules apply to all.
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Anyone can fine a lawsuit. Winning it is the hard part.
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The letter from the attorneys seems pretty much a hope that enough scariness would make them fold. Anyone can look at tracking of (almost every) aircraft at will. Implying that somehow Swift’s nature makes her at above the President (you can track most of the Presidental fleet, and imply movement of the others - see Biden’s Ukraine trip documentation for examples) is a bit nutty.
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They probably should have gone with a “please try to see it from Taylor’s point of view because she is legitimately concerned for her safety” approach rather than a “keep this up and we’ll sue” approach.
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I wonder if a phone call from Taylor herself would be enough to post a delay or something. Or if Jack Sweeney is sticking to his gun on the principle of the thing. (Edited to fix errors.)
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I think the “he” being referenced in the second part of the comment was the guy tracking the planes, not Tay-Tay…
Oh wait… no… I thought it said “herself” but it says himself…
Now I’m confused, too?
@Mister44, what’s happening in this sentence?
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Sorry, I wrote an unclear sentence.
By “he” I meant Jack Sweeney sticking to his guns on the principle of transparency of tracking celebrity jets, vs honoring a personal request.
Jesus Christ, I am a hot mess. I made that mistake too!
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That’s ok. That’s why there’s an edit button lol.
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Yeah, a polite, personal request would have cost them nothing and might have been more fruitful. Haven’t they heard about the “you’ll catch more flies with honey than with vinegar” approach?
(Yes, I know that’s not actually true.)
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Tl:dr; “Cute stationary. Go home.”
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You know, if she decided not to produce obscene amounts of pollution with the private jet and switched to a more sustainable mode of transportation, then the issue would immediately go away. 
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Maybe, but also, if we want to encourage more sustainable forms of transport for everyone, that should happen at a societal level rather than the focus on individuals. It’s not like she’s solely responsible for all of the pollution in the world?
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Of course she’s not solely responsible for all the pollution in the world and transportation is a societal issue, but two things can be true at once.
This lawsuit is specifically her suing to be able to fly her very polluting private jet without public criticism. It seems that personal choice is relevant to that
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Completely off topic, but James Slater’s signature has me totally reimagining what a signature can be. I always thought it should be somewhat legible, but his is like abstract art.
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Again, maybe so, but it’s kind of funny that all the other people who do this on a regular basis (flying polluting public aircraft/yachts/etc) don’t seem to get nearly as much scrutiny by the public as being a problem?
I guess she should fly coach, but I’m not sure how that’s meant to work, being literally one of the most famous people on the planet?
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How exactly would you propose she get to her singing engagements on different continents? She’s one of the most famous people in the entire world. She can’t fly commercial: it would be a security nightmare from start to finish and a complete madhouse, which is unfair to everyone else in the airport. She’d pretty much have to buy up the entire first-class section and have security guards keeping the curious rabble out, and that would leave her dependent on the flying schedules of airlines. She can’t travel by ship: takes too long. And what else is there?
I’m not interested in defending her but it’s obvious that she has to fly in a private jet. Without question she abuses it, and without question it’s terrible for the environment, but if she’s going to tour, that’s the only way to do it.
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And again, I think this indicates that rather than focus on individuals, we should focus on the systemic solutions to this problem. If we had more efficient public transit for the rest of us, more options with regards to affordable cars that aren’t gas powered, cities built in a way that didn’t necessitate vehicles for everything, energy grids that were built primarily on renewables, etc, it would matter if a few wealthy people flew on private jets, because it would be negligible in terms of pollution… even better if we could come up with a plane that didn’t use fossil fuels…
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She most certainly could if she chose to do so. Ditto Elon Musk and every other billionaire who doesn’t want to deal with the hassles of flying first class with a security entourage.
World-famous celebrities traveling abroad is a phenomenon that predates private jets and plenty of them get around without using them today. No one needs a private jet.
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