The account of a Florida student who was posting the location of private jets was suspended by Musk. The student was being accused of being an assassin.
His plane's location was discussed in accounts that were included in the shutdowns. He re wrote some of the policies to try and stop people from sharing those details.
Dramatic improvements in how the aviation system tracks aircraft to ensure a high level of safety and to improve efficiency made some of the information Musk was concerned about public. Aviation experts say it is difficult to untangle privacy concerns from the underlying technology.
billionaires' private planes are easy to track
The flight- tracking data can be used to watch planes in real time because of improvements in computers. The data can be accessed from the US Federal Aviation Administration, or it can be found on the internet.
In 2020 the FAA will require any aircraft that is expected to be guided by air-traffic controllers to have equipment on board that broadcasts its position automatically.
The radar system was no longer the primary way to track planes. Mid-air collision prevention has been improved due to the result. It allows real-time aircraft tracking in the most remote regions of the world from space.
It made it possible for anyone with a receiver on the ground to watch the radio broadcasts from the aircraft.
Many services have created networks of receiver that are operated by volunteers.
Jack Sweeney, a student at the University of Florida, used data from ADSBexchange.com to track Musk and other people with private planes. It was one of the suspended accounts. Dan Streufert is the president of the flight- tracking company.
Streufert didn't want his service to become a tool for photographers. He said that what had started as a hobby has evolved into a business that tracks flights, as well as assisting accident investigations and helping monitor aircraft noise.
Did those people share the data?
Following his suspension of the journalists, Musk cited the policy on sharing sensitive or personal information about other people on the service. The location of Musk's private plane, as well as when and where it took off and landed, are included in the violations.
On Wednesday, Musk suspended ElonJet after he said a car carrying his son was followed by a stalker. Public access to Musk's plane information may have been the cause of the incident.
New language about "live location information" was added to the policy that forbids sharing things like home addresses or phone numbers.
People who share travel routes, actual physical location, or other identifying information that would reveal a person's location, regardless if this information is publicly available, can now be suspended. Many of the journalists that were suspended had covered Musk for a long time and had links to other accounts that included Musk's private jet information
Musk suspended the account for Mastodon because he was publishing Musk's private plane details on their service.
Some people pointed out that private jet information is mostly public. Sharing information that is publicly available elsewhere is not a violation of the doxxing policy, and previously had an exemption for journalists.
Is it possible that Musk could make his data private?
If you don't want your location known, you can choose to have the FAA screen your aircraft's identity. Sweeney has taken advantage of some of the underlying information that is still a public record for his broadcasts.
The code can be cracked by anyone watching a $50 million private jet on a runway.
The FAA said that the privacy programs do not guarantee absolute privacy.
It's unlikely that this data will be removed from the public domain. Jeff Guzzetti, an aviation safety consultant, said that the current system of aviation in this country is mostly funded by the taxpayer. The citizens who are paying for it are obligated by the federal government to give it away.
The current system is designed to prevent planes from colliding in midair.
He said that aviation in this country is very complex and thought out. The entire industry needs to be on board with that.
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