More billionaire planes on the radar of teenagers who rejected Elon Musk’s offer to stop tracking his private jet

A college student who turned down $5,000 (about Rs 3.75 lakh) from tech mogul Elon Musk to stop tracking his private jet is now planning to target more billionaires. Jack Sweeney, 19, can’t believe what he started as a hobby has the potential to turn into a lucrative project for him. Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, reached out to Sweeney with a $5,000 offer last November to advise him not to track his jet over concerns about his personal safety. . But the teenager asked for $50,000 (about Rs 37.5 lakh) or at least an internship opportunity to stop tracking the plane.

The deal failed and Musk stop replying to Sweeney’s direct messages on Twitter. But Sweeney still hopes Musk will return to the negotiating table. In the meantime, he’s decided to make more money by launching a Ground Control System, which tracks the planes of other celebrities, including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.

Sweet told Bloomberg that flight tracking companies generate millions in revenue every year and only a fraction of what they earn will also be a good source of income for him.

But there are legal and privacy concerns about mining this kind of information and making it public in real time. Experts warn there could be a legal divide for Sweeney. However, some companies have provided private and corporate aviation intelligence to their customers to help them gain insight into the business plans of their competitors. The mobility of business leaders can provide clues about their businesses. To trick these bots and their customers or for safety reasons, some business leaders sometimes send their jets without them.

Even Musk previously said he didn’t want to be “shot by an asshole” so he asked Sweeney to stop the bot – @ElonJet – track his plane. Sweeney asked Musk for $50,000, saying it would cover his school fees and help buy a car, possibly a Tesla Model 3. He told Bloomberg: “The amount of time and dedication I put into it was just amazing – like 5,000 wasn’t enough to just throw it away.”