Aircraft make use of the air space above a bunch of people's random property. They could (in theory) also come down on top of you.
I think it makes sense for that data to be public. If you don't like it don't fly.
Also you can't prevent this sort of thing. Airplane ADS-B squawks ident info for collision avoidance and to help ATC (Air Traffic Control). The signal is simple for reliability and compatibility. Anyone can receive that data.
This whole thing about her carbon footprint is also nonsense assuming those jets are ferrying her crew and equipment that would just have to travel by commercial jet otherwise. Unless it's a lux jet just for her it makes as good as no difference in CO2 emissions whether her jet emits them or she pays United to do it.
Hey Tay, just Shake It Off. Really. You have no expectation of privacy using public airspace. If you don't want to be tracked, you probably shouldn't be traveling in a flying machine emblazoned with registration marks. Maybe try the train.
Edit: now that I think about it for more than sixteen seconds, couldn't that be a marketing opportunity in disguise (as if her act needs more marketing)? "Know when she flies over your house! Get a selfie with the contrail in the background! Most likes on a tiktok gets a personal response saying thanks for thinking of me!"
I mean, we DO track flights publicly using sites like FlightRadar. Taylor Swift just happens to own a plane and what people track is the plane, not her. If the plan flies without her, the trackers don't know. Not unless they augment that information with spotters that have a clear view of the boarding activity of the plane.
It's about tracking a plane which ALREADY has its location tracked by a transponder and published publicly. Like every other non-military plane in the world. Nothing is unusual there, except that this data is posted to Twitter.
If she flies her plane on the Moon (chortle), or some other place without any tracking infrastructure, her plane's location won't be available to anyone, either.
Unfortunately for her, she wants to have her plane flown in areas with infrastructure, and congested airspace, where its location and identification needs to be known to everyone for safety reasons.
Likewise, she's free to buy a superyacht, and sail it out in the middle of nowhere with her transpounders off, but she can't be pissed if someone starts tracking every time that that yacht causes tens of thousands of cars to stop because the folding bridge on SR-520 has to be raised[1] to let it through...
[1] Thankfully, since the bridge was rebuilt with more clearance, this is no longer an issue. But in the years prior, I had absolutely zero sympathy for any of the rich pricks that would stop the movement of tens of thousands of people because they wanted to sail their yacht around the lake. If someone kept a website with a high score of who was the most disruptive Seattle millionaire when it came to that, I'd have been delighted.
The owner's not identified, the plane is, so that ATC (or, in the case of an incredibly unusual emergency, another plane) knows who to call.
She can always operate her plane in VFR mode in airspace where (because of fewer safety concerns for those modes of operation) a transponder doesn't need to be turned on.
Airspace is a 'public' space, but it's public space that requires very clear tracking of objects occupying it, because of high risks to human life. It requires permission, and following very particular rules and notification for entering it. Flying is not like taking a stroll down to the corner store.
Notice that driving also requires you to broadcast your vehicle's identification, in the form of a license plate. But because the safety concerns in play are different, it's only broadcast in the visible spectrum.
I'm guessing Taylor's home(s) have someone keeping an eye on them even when she's away, so that doesn't seem relevant. It would also apply to anyone with a private jet like hers.
Hyperbole in the news happens all the time. At any rate, the quote is also inaccurate because according the May 2014 article that I posted, we have been able to track a jet for free for almost 2 years. I wasn't trying to start a discussion about how easy or hard one of them is.
Tracking the jet owned by the person, which as others have pointed out, often is rented out for others to use (or they let friends, coworkers, etc take trips)
@CelebJets tracks the private planes a bunch of celebrities including Oprah Winfrey. If a journalist or politician is rich enough to have their own private plane then that plane gets tracked.
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