Taylor Swift halts the 2025 Grammys red carpet
Taylor Swift has finally arrived at the 2025 Grammys. The veteran Grammys winner took ‘loving you is red’ to a whole different level.
Entertain This!
- The FAA will now withhold private aircraft owners’ information from public view upon request, citing security concerns.
- This decision comes after celebrities like Taylor Swift faced scrutiny for their private jet usage, tracked via publicly available FAA data.
- The agency is considering making the withholding of personal information the default for private aircraft owners in the public registry.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) implemented legislation Friday making it harder to track private airplanes belonging to stars such as Taylor Swift.
On May 16, 2024, the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 was signed into law by then-President Joe Biden. The 410-page document contains Section 803, which outlines data privacy.
Private aircraft owners may submit an electronic request to the FAA asking to withhold registration numbers for non-commercial flights. The administration will also withhold personal information including names, addresses, phone numbers and emails from public view.
Under the law, aircraft owners — who demonstrate a security need — can apply for a new aircraft identification code. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) assigns a 24-bit code used for identifying aircraft in global air traffic systems. The code is part of the automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) system, which tracks aircraft in real-time.
The FAA stated it will request feedback, including whether removing private information could impact stakeholders’ ability to carry out essential tasks like maintenance, safety inspections and ensuring regulatory compliance.
The agency mentioned it is considering making the withholding of personally identifiable information for private aircraft owners and operators the default for the public aircraft registry, while also providing a way for owners to access and download their data when needed.
Social media accounts have used the FAA registry to track private planes and fuel usage for well-known politicians and entertainers including Swift, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg, Harrison Ford, Kim Kardashian and Oprah Winfrey.
Fly like a jet stream
Swift became a lightning rod in the debate over carbon dioxide emissions in 2022 after a study published by the Yard, a content and public relations firm, put the Eras Tour singer at the top of a wasteful list.
The Yard has since added a disclaimer that reads: “Following the release of our data, Rolling Stone contacted each of the celebrities’ representatives for comment. Taylor Swift’s representative said the following: ‘Taylor’s jet is loaned out regularly to other individuals. To attribute most or all of these trips to her is blatantly incorrect.’”
A University of Central Florida student, Jack Sweeney, has tracked Swift’s jet for years. His account took off in 2023 when publications wanted to know whether the billionaire would attend NFL games. Swift’s legal team sent cease and desist letters to Sweeney, and Meta pulled the plug on his Instagram account. Swifties have fired back at Sweeney saying the tracking endangers her privacy.
Sweeney hired a lawyer in response and released a public letter. He still tracks on X, Bluesky and Reddit.
“Other people have done a similar type of thing where they’re posting about her planes,” Sweeney told USA TODAY in May 2024. “When she flew to Brazil, the news was livestreaming at the airport. If my tracking goes away, there’s still going to be stuff like that, and she travels with a security team. The airport is one of the most secure places.”
A representative for Swift didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
Contributing: Reuters
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Follow Bryan West, the USA TODAY Network’s Taylor Swift reporter, on Instagram, TikTok and X as @BryanWestTV.
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