The planespotter that angers Taylor Swift and Elon Musk

A Florida college student made a habit of stepping into the shoes of some of the richest and most powerful people in the world . How? By telling us where their private planes are and how much carbon they emit.

Jack Sweeney would like to clarify a few details. On the one hand, he thinks Taylor Swift has some good songs.

However, he believes - despite the threat of legal action - that anyone should be able to see where their private jet is heading and how often it flies. < /p>

"I like to be fair," he told the BBC in an email. "I try to share everyone's information, no matter who it is."

But this is specifically information about the locations of the private planes of the rich and powerful - posted on his social media accounts - which has repeatedly made the 21-year-old the subject of news and legal threats.

Mr. Sweeney is the son of an airline maintenance operations controller and a teacher, and grew up in suburban Orlando. He says he has always had an interest in aviation and technology, and particularly in Elon Musk's companies SpaceX and Tesla.

These interests inspired him gradually led to develop an aircraft tracking system. TheAirTraffic.com website and social media accounts that track the planes of Russian celebrities, politicians, tycoons and oligarchs.

The system...