Elon Musk offered a 19-year-old $5,000 to take down a Twitter account that tracks his private jet

Discussion in 'Other News' started by TheLoadOut, Jan 28, 2022.

  1. TheLoadOut

    TheLoadOut Road Train Member

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    Elon Musk messaged the owner of a Twitter account that tracks his private jet, with an offer of $5,000 if he took the account offline, the tech news site Protocol reported Wednesday.

    The "Elon Musk's Jet" account shows the movements of Musk's private jet, using bots that monitor publicly available air-traffic data.

    According to Protocol, the owner of the account, a 19-year-old named Jack Sweeney, received a message in fall last year at 12:13 a.m. from Musk. It 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?" Protocol reported.

    Musk said, "I don't love the idea of being shot by a nutcase," according to Protocol.

    Musk offered Sweeney $5,000 after a few messages back and forth, Protocol reported.

    "Any chance to up that to $50k? It would be great support in college and would possibly allow me to get a car maybe even a Model 3," Sweeney responded, per Protocol.

    According to the outlet, Musk said he would think about it but has not been back in touch.
     
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  3. Tb0n3

    Tb0n3 Road Train Member

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    It's public data. The only difference is the twitter account advertises it.
     
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  4. mjd4277

    mjd4277 Road Train Member

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    Even if was taken down from Twitter the plane can still be tracked online. There are aviation websites that track flights all the time,both commercial and private. You just need the tail/registration number and aircraft type!
     
  5. BennysPennys

    BennysPennys Road Train Member

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    The kid is not some great coder he is just using a flight aware type public data service and posting to twitter and automates it with IFTTT super simple process.
     
  6. mjd4277

    mjd4277 Road Train Member

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  7. AModelCat

    AModelCat Road Train Member

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    I'd have countered and said I'll take the $5k as a signing bonus if you hire me.
     
  8. GYPSY65

    GYPSY65 Road Train Member

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    Kid gets paid and everyone else will jump in and track for $$ payday
     
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