Regardless of whether you believe Sweeney is the David to Swift’s Goliath in this situation, the legal threat raises some interesting questions: Is Sweeney’s tracking legal? Or does Swift’s team have a point—if not legally, then at least morally? To answer those questions, Slate spoke with Ryan Calo, a professor of law and information science at the University of Washington,First of all, I doubt that the information is public so that people can harass, stalk, take photographs, and so on, of celebrities like Elon Musk or Taylor Swift. Typically the Federal Aviation Administration releases information like that due to issues around safety and transparency, so there is an irony if it makes celebrities feel less safe. I agree with them: There’s no reason to follow Taylor Swift around unless you’re trying to catch a glimpse of her or photograph her for a magazine as paparazzi. Taylor Swift is very likely to be the target of some pretty frightening folks, given her immense visibility and the fact that she’s a woman.
