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Congress Just Made It Basically Impossible to Track Taylor Swift's Private Jet

gizmodo.com

61–70 of 129 posts

Re: Congress Just Made It Basically Impossible to Track Taylor Swift's Private Jet

#61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I laughed out loud when I read that. Would expect nothing more from Gizmodo.

Its frustrating because it buries better points under mud. The effective way to reduce jet emissions is not to publicly rag on the people who have the money to use the service. I would go so far as to say that the author does not actually care about the subject at all, only perhaps being able to deride others to prop themselves up as not as bad as them. The subject as presented like this leaves little room for talk a…

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Re: Congress Just Made It Basically Impossible to Track Taylor Swift's Private Jet

#63
Anonymizing aircraft registration was, for the most part, already possible. I first figured this out when I started playing with ADSB reception many years ago before it became the trivial effort it is today. The first plane that I happened to receive just happened to be a learjet registered to "Bank of Utah" or something similarly obtuse.

It took all of about 30 seconds to figure out this was Steve Jobs' plane; it had already been removed from all public tracking databases. (aircraft owners can request their aircraft be removed from datasets like flightaware, etc.)

I don't think this new legislation has any practical effect on the ability to track a specific aircraft. Once you figure out which one you want to track and have sufficient ADSB coverage, you will be able to track it. It's not as if the tail numbers are changing between flights.

Re: Congress Just Made It Basically Impossible to Track Taylor Swift's Private Jet

#64
post #8

> Of course, it’s worth pointing out that, unlike someone like Musk, Swift actually had a pretty good reason to travel a lot last year: she was on tour. Yes, because the richest man on the planet, heading up multiple billion dollar companies, couldn’t possibly have any legit reason to travel anywhere.

Musk was taking 20 minute flights in his jet to go to the beach - insanely wasteful because the fuel overhead of startup/taxi/takeoff and landing/taxiing is extremely high for the distance traveled. It's about the most environmentally damaging, wasteful way you could possibly move yourself from point A to B.

At least Swift's flights are often very long distance, and she has several major reasons for using the private jet; because of how large and obsessive her fan base is, it would be beyond difficult for her to travel via non-private commercial travel and a huge annoyance to anyone else on the plane. There'd even be fans and paparazzi trying to predict what flight she'd be on and booking tickets themselves.

There are also security safety concerns, although they have to be weighed against the much higher crash rate for bizjet travel than commercial passenger aviation flights.

She also has to physically travel for a tour. There's no other option.

Musk can do 90% of what he does via videoconferencing or phone calls - and from stories that have come out in the press from former executives who worked for him, he incessantly calls his subordinates, even in the middle of the night.

Still, people are missing the true motivator behind this legislation. It's not just about the rich 0.01%'ers. It's also about all the FBI, DEA, and CBP planes that are registered through shell companies to somewhat hide their purpose...but ownership and purpose becomes obvious when you see the model of plane (the agencies have their favorites), photos of it by plane spotters (showing obvious surveillance equipment pods), and the flight paths available online (usually endless loops over an area, or loops that follow a track from one point to another, obviously following someone.) This makes it somewhat harder to track them.

Re: Congress Just Made It Basically Impossible to Track Taylor Swift's Private Jet

#65
post #52

CO2 for me and not for thee

The correct way to solve the market failure of externalities is taxation, not social shaming.

Because taxation works for fairly? Social shaming is completely valid, and powerful. Just ask Ghandi if you don't believe me

Re: Congress Just Made It Basically Impossible to Track Taylor Swift's Private Jet

#66
post #18

Am I wrong in thinking that if the same person uses the same plane for multiple, documentable trips, or if they are spotted entering or exiting their plane, it should be possible to de-anonymize their flight data?

No you are entirely correct; the registration data is already effectively anonymous for any entity that has chosen to care about it. To be honest with you, anyone I know who is wealthy enough to own a plane is already set up with a mountain of LLCs to own shit anonymously. This legislation is a NoOp

Re: Congress Just Made It Basically Impossible to Track Taylor Swift's Private Jet

#67

Mark it for a W for privacy. A win for privacy should be celebrated even if the avg person wont (yet) benefit.

Indeed, now I know that when I get my private plane (I'm temporarily not a billionaire) I will also benefit.

Privacy isn't some monolithic good. There are, frequently, very good reasons to restrict privacy. Things like the finances of politicians, court proceedings, and the ultra-wealthy flying around in private jets disproportionally dumping C02 into the atmosphere all seem to be worth sacrificing a little privacy.

Re: Congress Just Made It Basically Impossible to Track Taylor Swift's Private Jet

#68
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The correct way to solve the market failure of externalities is taxation, not social shaming.

Because taxation works for fairly? Social shaming is completely valid, and powerful. Just ask Ghandi if you don't believe me

There is a direct relationship between fuel usage and carbon dioxide. It's very simple to tax fairly.

Re: Congress Just Made It Basically Impossible to Track Taylor Swift's Private Jet

#69

Mark it for a W for privacy. A win for privacy should be celebrated even if the avg person wont (yet) benefit.

I also think so.

Hiding who owns or operates the airplanes isn't what causes fuel exhaust, I think.

Re: Congress Just Made It Basically Impossible to Track Taylor Swift's Private Jet

#70
post #58
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The entertainment may be superfluous but the emotional effect it has on her fans is not. I mean compare this to the carbon footprint of people driving to church. Not a fan personally, but a concert it a meaningful experience for her diehard fans.

Going to church which is usually local doesn't compare to the entertainment industry's waste from touring, production nevermind the collective gas usage. We shouldn't be promoting emotional effects that are massed produced like facebook feeds that trigger real emotional responses to fake simulants

I think churches were a lot like spoken word venues with performers who try to copy the best, occasional traveling stars, and the most usable advice being memes that predate Christianity.
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