Elon Musk slipped into the DMs of the creator of the Twitter bot @ElonJet last month.
That was the start of a drawn-out conversation between Jack Sweeney, 19, a college freshman at the University of Central Florida, and Tesla CEO billionaire Musk.
Musk started the conversation by asking a small favor: Would Sweeney take down the bot that posted his private plane's whereabouts? And, to sweeten the deal: What if he threw in $5,000?
@ElonJet tracks the whereabouts of Musk's private jet. Sweeney, a flight tracking whiz who utilizes publicly available data that comes from the Federal Aviation Administration, has set up 15 other jet trackers for SpaceX planes, celebrity-toting jets, and aircraft from other big names like Jeff Bezos. @ElonJet was the most popular tracking bot in Sweeney's collection, but it only had about 83,000 followers at the time this all started. Now it's up to over 241,000.
In a phone call with Mashable last week, Sweeney went through his ongoing saga with Musk.
Sweeney countered Musk's offer by asking for a more substantial $50,000. Or what about a Tesla Model 3? After all, he's a college kid who invested a lot of time and effort into setting up the account. Musk, one of the richest people in the world, said he'd consider it, but didn't follow up again.
Sweeney reached out again about two weeks ago with his last ask: an internship at one of Musk's companies, like SpaceX or Tesla. Radio silence. Then he was blocked by the active Twitter user sometime over the weekend.
As the tech publication Protocol reported last week, Musk reached out to Sweeney in December even though @ElonJet has been posting take-off and landing info since June 2020.
Sweeney explained to Musk how he set up the account using ADS-B Exchange data, and even offered advice to Musk. He suggested a free information-blocking program offered through the FAA, which Musk (or likely someone on his team) set up. As the FAA website explained, "Limiting aircraft data from the FAA data systems will limit flight tracking information transmitted over the Internet." However, Sweeney's @ElonJet continued to function despite the more limited data.
Musk went a step further after Protocol's initial report about the take-down drama was published last week, enabling a second data-blocking method that acts as another layer of privacy but still isn't impenetrable. These blocks would deter the average person from tracking this particular plane. But Sweeney's father is in the airline industry, as Protocol reported, and the college student knew where to find less-accessible databases. He figured out how to continue accessing the publicly available (but now much more buried) flight info that he could plug into the bot.
Tweet may have been deleted
"He probably will be mad now that I know it’s completely working," Sweeney said once the account tracked the flight path despite the new hiccup.
As to why Musk is suddenly concerned with the tracking bot and the perceived security risk, Sweeney is just as confused as we are. He said in the 1.5 years @ElonJet's been in operation, neither Musk nor anyone from his companies have reached out.
"There were some people saying stop following this account," Sweeney said of the Musk fans urging him to take down @ElonJet, but the bot is still going, with negotiations seemingly stalled for good now that all of Sweeney's accounts are blocked. Sweeney said he would take it down if that internship — or electric car — materialized.
Musk's plane most recently landed in Harlingen, Texas.
TopicsElon Musk
(责任编辑：熱點)
Sound the alarms: Simone Biles finally met Zac EfronHuawei sues Verizon for allegedly using patents without permission
'The Batman' reveals a sleek Batmobile that actually looks like a carBoris Johnson is out of intensive care and is recovering from coronavirusCat gets stuck in the most awkward position everWhatsApp announces plans to share user data with Facebook
Big changes are coming to WhatsApp.
。On Thursday, WhatsApp announced in a blog post it will begin sha
...[详细]'Dispatches from Elsewhere' is a little too existential to be much fun
Wasting no time, the new AMC anthology series Dispatches from Elsewhereintroduces viewers to the fir
...[详细]UK politicians will finally be allowed to breastfeed in the House of Commons
UK politics isn't exactly well known for being a welcoming space for working mothers. Stella Creasy
...[详细]What Apple's acquisition of Dark Sky means for Android users
The forecast is dreary for Dark Sky on Android.The popular weather app announced Tuesday that it had
...[详细]Man stumbles upon his phone background in real life
Life imitates tech. Or, perhaps it's the other way around.Reddit user xbshooterwas traveling near Sa
...[详细]'Queer Eye' expert Bobby Berk is designing 'Animal Crossing' houses
Animal Crossingfor the Nintendo Switch has become a de facto replacement for social interaction and
...[详细]WhatsApp bug let hackers access computers with an iOS app and a text
The past few months have not been good to WhatsApp users. Unfortunately, that doesn't look like it's
...[详细]Uber drivers and passengers will have to wear face masks in the U.S.
Uber drivers and riders will soon have to wear face masks in the U.S. and several other countries, C
...[详细]5 people Tim Cook calls for advice on running the biggest company in the world
It's only fitting that the leader of the biggest company in the world has a pretty impressive list o
...[详细]Stressed? Train your body and mind to have multiple orgasms
I bought my first vibrator, a battery-operated turquoise wand with a bulb at the top, when I was 19.
...[详细]Nancy Pelosi warns colleagues after info hacked
Artists donate free, uplifting images to the UN in pandemic response
