The Teenager Who Tracks Elon Musk's Plane Has a New Obsession: Monitoring Russian Oligarchs

[mahatmakanejeeves]

The Florida teen who garnered attention for tracking Elon Musk’s private jet is now publicizing the movements of planes owned by Russian oligarchs and aircraft associated with Vladimir Putin

Link to tweet

The Teenager Who Tracks Elon Musk’s Plane Has a New Obsession: Monitoring Russian Oligarchs,...
Jack Sweeney, who gained attention for tracking Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s private jet, created new Twitter bots to monitor Russian oligarchs and Vladimir Putin after Russia invaded Ukraine.

TECH

The Teenager Who Tracks Elon Musk’s Plane Has a New Obsession: Monitoring Russian Oligarchs, Vladimir Putin

Jack Sweeney, a Florida student, is now publicizing the movements of planes owned by Russian oligarchs, aircraft associated with President Putin

By Ginger Adams Otis
https://twitter.com/gingerotis
[e-mail]
March 1, 2022 4:42 pm ET

Jack Sweeney, the Florida teenager who garnered attention for tracking the private jet of Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk, is now publicizing the movements of planes owned by Russian oligarchs and aircraft associated with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mr. Sweeney, 19, said that he made the new Twitter bots—@RUOligarchJets and @Putinjet—over the weekend after Russia invaded Ukraine. ... “Even before this war started, people were saying to me, ‘Oh, you should track Putin,’” he said in an interview Tuesday. ... Once the Russian attacks began, he got messages from online followers urging him to focus on the country’s oligarchs and began researching the names and plane tail numbers of the Russian elite, too.

The teen, a freshman at the University of Central Florida, has made a hobby out of following the private aircraft of billionaire entrepreneurs and even some celebrities. His new Twitter bots focused on Russia use the same technology as the one that tracks the jet Mr. Sweeney believes is owned by Mr. Musk, he said.

Mr. Sweeney’s hobby garnered national attention after he said Mr. Musk personally reached out to him on Twitter asking that he shut down @ElonJet, which publicly shares the movements of the Tesla executive’s plane. Mr. Sweeney’s bots rely on public data from plane transponders that log longitude, latitude and altitude and calculate location based on an algorithm he created in 2020. ... His @RUOligarchJets account has amassed more than 175,000 followers as of Tuesday afternoon. And the bot tracking planes that might be used by Mr. Putin had more than 30,000 followers. ... “I don’t think he’ll be leaving the country right now,” Mr. Sweeney said.

{snip}

Write to Ginger Adams Otis at [e-mail]

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Appeared in the March 2, 2022, print edition as 'Teenager Takes On Tracking Tycoons’ Jets—and Putin’s.'

[Tadpole Raisin]

1. Oh boy do I like this!

Go for it young man!

[Lonestarblue]

2. Putin and his oligarchs will not like this.

The EU needs to start seizing assets like super yachts and selling them to pay for the care of the thousands of Ukrainian refugees forced put of their homes. If there are no buyers, sell them for scrap. Do that every week until the oligarchs are crying. Also expel those who are living in places like London,,enjoying their freedom. Force them to go back to Russia. They should not continue living their normal lives while supporting Putin.

[live love laugh]

8. He's endangering himself.

[niyad]

3. I hope that this young man stays safe. putler and friends muust be annoyed.

[SheltieLover]

4. Good idea!

[Samrob]

5. Put him on the payroll and give him deep cover. nt

[CaptainTruth]

6. I started following @RUOligarchJets right after it went live.

It's informative & I added it to my Twitter Flight-OSINT list.

My list is public so anyone on Twitter can follow it.

[link:https://twitter.com/i/lists/1009622589029875712?t=i4PcVdWC-rnb5CP5lJL8Sw&s=09|]

[lagomorph777]

7. Tracking Musk was creepy. Oligarchs - I like it.

I'm ambivalent about Musk; he's an asshole, but unlike many billionaires, he is actually doing useful things.

The oligarchs deserve to be hounded; they deserve to be looking over their shoulders.

[Orrex]

9. The difference between our oligarchs and theirs...

Is that our oligarchs make the effort to have PR departments.