A college student named Jack Sweeney fired back against Taylor Swift’s lawyer after receiving a cease and desist letter for tracking the pop superstar’s private jets.
Swift’s legal team sent two cease and desist letters to Sweeney-one in December 2023, and another in January 2024-demanding he stop posting her jets’ whereabouts online.
“While this may be a game to you, or an avenue that you hope will earn you wealth or fame, it is a life-or-death matter for our Client,” her lawyer, Katie Wright Morrone, . “Ms. Swift has dealt with stalkers and other individuals who wish her harm.”
On Monday, Feb. 19, Sweeney took to X (formerly Twitter) with the response sent by his lawyer, Ethan Jacobs. “Look What You Made Me Do,” the 21-year-old University of Central Florida student wrote on X, referencing a track from Swift’s sixth studio album, reputation.
“Put simply, there is nothing unlawful about GRNDCTRL’s [Sweeny’s company] use of publicly accessible information to track private jets, including those used by public figures like Taylor Swifts,” the letter read. “GRNDCTRL used the same information to track sanctioned Russian oligarchs and Elon Musk….The @taylorswiftjets account is engaged in protected speech that does not violate any of Ms. Swift’s legal rights.”
Look What You Made Me Do pic.twitter.com/kETxWamSP3
— Jack Sweeney (@Jxck_Sweeney) February 19, 2024
Furthermore, Jacobs called out Swift’s legal team for “failing to identify any legal claim,” aside a stalking claim under California law in a footnote.
“The language just before the words you quote explains that a stalker is someone who makes a ‘credible threat’ against a victim,” the letter from Sweeney’s team read.”…Our clients have never made any threats against Ms. Swift and your letter does not suggest they have done so.”
Sweeney’s lawyer noted that Swift’s letters’ “tone of alarm is unfounded,” reiterating that the website only provides information based on information that is publicly available-“pos[ing] no threat to Ms. Swift’s safety.”
Finally, Jacobs called the cease and desist letters a “groundless effort to intimidate and censor our clients.”
He concluded: “We doubt Ms. Swift will pursue meritless legal action, but if she does, we will defend our clients’ rights.”
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This story was originally published February 20, 2024, 7:26 PM.
source: star-telegram
