Drew HarwellDec 16, 2022
One point I do want to make clear: Twitter is Elon Musk's website. He paid all that money and can ban whoever he wants. It's his right, just like it's our right to point out when he's spreading bad information and contradicting himself.
Show threadDrew HarwellDec 16, 2022

Because Elon has continuously misrepresented this:

The data used for flight-tracking accounts like ElonJet - called ADS-B data - are transmitted from nearly every plane in the sky.

The signals are unencrypted, and anyone with a $20 RTL-SDR radio can pick them up. Aviation hobbyists gather the data and put them on websites like ADS-B Exchange.

It's publicly available, legally acquired data of the kind Elon Musk said he'd allow, until suddenly he no longer did.

Show threadDrew HarwellDec 16, 2022

How The Washington Post has used flight data:

* To track a former president's emergency landing (in 2022): https://wapo.st/3HGp8IA

* To map out how military helicopters flew over George Floyd protests (in 2020): https://wapo.st/3V3WRie

* To raise questions about Elon Musk's flights (in 2019): https://wapo.st/2RmjE7X

* To investigate The Post's owner Jeff Bezos (in 2018): https://wapo.st/3YmLt3M

* To document extravagant trips on the taxpayer dime (in 2017): https://wapo.st/3HMh9d0

Plane carrying Donald Trump made emergency landing in New Orleans after engine failure over Gulf of Mexico

A plane carrying former president Donald Trump suffered engine failure late Saturday evening over the Gulf of Mexico, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing in New Orleans shortly after taking off from the city.

The Washington Post
Show threadRob Landley

@drewharwell Airplanes broadcast their license plate via radio. The FAA has required them all to do this since the 1950s:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IFF_Mark_X

Half the arguments about drones in civilian airspace is that they don't have sufficient transponders:

https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/technology/equipadsb/resources/faq#q16

Twittler getting suddenly upset about this is like him getting suddenly upset about Apple's 30% cut of iPhone sales. He knew for years and agreed to it, then "forgot" when he donned the maga hat.

IFF Mark X - Wikipedia

Dec 17, 2022 at 3:15amWeb