Earlier this week, 19-year-old Jack Sweeney received a little bit of web fame when printed a narrative about one in all his Twitter bots. The faculty pupil maintains ElonJet, a tracker that tweets out when Elon Musk’s non-public jet takes off and lands. Sweeney has a number of different such bots that use publicly obtainable air visitors information to observe the non-public planes of celebrities like Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. However, with 180,000 followers and counting, the ElonJet account is by far Sweeney’s most well-known creation. And it’s that reputation that attracted none apart from Elon Musk to the bot.
Last fall, the entrepreneur contacted Sweeney about ElonJet. “Can you take this down? It is a security risk,” he stated, based on Protocol. Musk informed Sweeney he would give him $5,000 to delete the account and maintain “crazy people” from discovering out his whereabouts. Sweeney made a counteroffer. “Any chance to up that to $50k? It would be great support in college and would possibly allow me to get a car maybe even a Model 3.”
Musk informed him he would give it some thought, however the two haven’t spoken since. At the time, Sweeney informed Protocol he wasn’t bothered by Musk ghosting him. His work on ElonJet had taught him find out how to code and landed him a part-time job with an organization known as UberJets. Plus, as a self-proclaimed fan, he acquired to share a dialog with one in all his idols.
Now the teenager appears to have modified his tune. In a brand new interview with , he stated he determined to go public with Musk’s supply after the billionaire seemingly misplaced curiosity in reducing a deal. “He went the opposite way of me, so why wouldn’t I go the opposite way of him?” he requested the publication. “I’ve done a lot of work on this and $5,000 is not enough,” Sweeney stated. He informed Business Insider the preliminary supply wouldn’t substitute the “fun” he’s had engaged on the bot.
It doesn’t appear to be Musk has any curiosity in negotiating with Sweeney. Following their preliminary dialog, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO carried out among the technical recommendation Sweeney gave him to make his jet tougher to trace. At the time, Musk reportedly additionally informed Sweeney it didn’t “feel right to pay to shut this down.” He in all probability has some extent.
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