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Why am I still surprised that the wealthy have special laws just for their privacy? It seems though that simple elimination would reveal the "flights we're not

Why am I still surprised that the wealthy have special laws just for their privacy? It seems though that simple elimination would reveal the "flights we're not supposed to know about". Or perhaps we'll get actual human "plane spotters" around the airports to log these radio-silent flights.

crote 1y ago
The flights aren't radio silent, as that would result in significant safety risks. They have just been put on an ignorelist which is voluntarily honored by most commercial flight tracking websites, like FlightRadar24[0]. However, nothing is stopping you from creating your own flight detection network which doesn't follow the ignorelist. A well-known one is the volunteer-run ADS-B Exchange[1]. [0]: https://www.flightradar24.com https://www.flightradar24.com [1]: https://www.adsbexchange.com/ https://www.adsbexchange.com/
- dawnerd 1y ago
  Super easy to setup your own for under 50 bucks. Plus if you feed to the tracking sites many give you pro/business accounts in exchange.
- trogdor 1y ago
  It doesn’t look like an ignore list to me. See “FAA Source” blocking here: https://www.faa.gov/pilots/ladd https://www.faa.gov/pilots/ladd
petertodd 1y ago
> Why am I still surprised that the wealthy have special laws just for their privacy? The status quo is you or I can travel without significant non-government privacy concerns, as we blend into the crowd of millions of normal air travelers. Celebrities can't do that, as they get noticed by the public. Keeping the movements of their planes private just helps celebrities get to enjoy a similar level of privacy as the rest of us. I see nothing wrong with that. Furthermore, it's good that celebrities value their privacy. Everyone should. We can all members of society to value privacy and for those values to filter down into laws that also protect it.
- vincnetas 1y ago
  When you're a celebrity, you can't have a cake and eat it too.
  - reliabilityguy 1y ago
    For many celebrities being famous and having no privacy is not a choice but rather an unwanted feature. Doesn’t mean that in order to fulfill your dream of being a top actor you have now to be at peace and accept all the paparazzi and fans.
    - petertodd 1y ago
      Also, while not as relevant to the OP's post, remember that not everyone is famous and rich. I'm not rich. But I did get a degree of fame due to that ridiculous HBO documentary falsely accusing me of being Satoshi. I'm not happy with the level of travel privacy out there and it would be definitely in my interests for it to be better. I have a very real risk that someone thinks I'm Satoshi and tries to track me down to get billions in BTC that I don't have.
- wheelerwj 1y ago
  What are you talking about? Since when can the general public travel in privacy?
  - petertodd 1y ago
    My name is Peter Todd. I am a Canadian. Tell me, where am I right now? I traveled there recently. Governments certainly can find out that information, as my recent flights are recorded in lots of databases accessible to the. But it's much harder for non-government entities not directly involved in the travel to find this out due to privacy laws (particularly in the EU).
tialaramex 1y ago
It has always been the case that the US was operated primarily for the benefit of those with capital, what is perhaps more novel is that where once economic growth was a 90-10 split between those who already had so much and those labouring, increasingly it's 100-0 or even worse, and so then there's no reason those doing the labour to achieve that growth ought to engage, better surely to eliminate the oppressors and reform the system. You would have to be really stupid to cause that but then, look at the people who did it, checks out.

crote 1y ago

The flights aren't radio silent, as that would result in significant safety risks. They have just been put on an ignorelist which is voluntarily honored by most commercial flight tracking websites, like FlightRadar24[0]. However, nothing is stopping you from creating your own flight detection network which doesn't follow the ignorelist. A well-known one is the volunteer-run ADS-B Exchange[1]. [0]: https://www.flightradar24.com https://www.flightradar24.com [1]: https://www.adsbexchange.com/ https://www.adsbexchange.com/

dawnerd 1y ago
Super easy to setup your own for under 50 bucks. Plus if you feed to the tracking sites many give you pro/business accounts in exchange.
trogdor 1y ago
It doesn’t look like an ignore list to me. See “FAA Source” blocking here: https://www.faa.gov/pilots/ladd https://www.faa.gov/pilots/ladd

petertodd 1y ago

> Why am I still surprised that the wealthy have special laws just for their privacy? The status quo is you or I can travel without significant non-government privacy concerns, as we blend into the crowd of millions of normal air travelers. Celebrities can't do that, as they get noticed by the public. Keeping the movements of their planes private just helps celebrities get to enjoy a similar level of privacy as the rest of us. I see nothing wrong with that. Furthermore, it's good that celebrities value their privacy. Everyone should. We can all members of society to value privacy and for those values to filter down into laws that also protect it.

vincnetas 1y ago
When you're a celebrity, you can't have a cake and eat it too.
- reliabilityguy 1y ago
  For many celebrities being famous and having no privacy is not a choice but rather an unwanted feature. Doesn’t mean that in order to fulfill your dream of being a top actor you have now to be at peace and accept all the paparazzi and fans.
  - petertodd 1y ago
    Also, while not as relevant to the OP's post, remember that not everyone is famous and rich. I'm not rich. But I did get a degree of fame due to that ridiculous HBO documentary falsely accusing me of being Satoshi. I'm not happy with the level of travel privacy out there and it would be definitely in my interests for it to be better. I have a very real risk that someone thinks I'm Satoshi and tries to track me down to get billions in BTC that I don't have.
wheelerwj 1y ago
What are you talking about? Since when can the general public travel in privacy?
- petertodd 1y ago
  My name is Peter Todd. I am a Canadian. Tell me, where am I right now? I traveled there recently. Governments certainly can find out that information, as my recent flights are recorded in lots of databases accessible to the. But it's much harder for non-government entities not directly involved in the travel to find this out due to privacy laws (particularly in the EU).

tialaramex 1y ago

It has always been the case that the US was operated primarily for the benefit of those with capital, what is perhaps more novel is that where once economic growth was a 90-10 split between those who already had so much and those labouring, increasingly it's 100-0 or even worse, and so then there's no reason those doing the labour to achieve that growth ought to engage, better surely to eliminate the oppressors and reform the system. You would have to be really stupid to cause that but then, look at the people who did it, checks out.