ADSB Exchange: the cat is out of the bag

[n6hgg]

The recent controversy over the last day or two over the journalists being taken off of Twitter has been partially due to the revealing of executive transport aircraft and their real-time locations. Susan Li who is a financial reporter on Fox News revealed this morning that her account is still suspended and she said on the air what they were doing was getting the executive transport aircraft tail numbers and tracking executives and business jets using adsb exchange. She was keeping track of and reporting on the journalists who were originally taken off by Twitter, and that's why she got removed.

For those who don't know, adsb exchange is a communal effort using freely broadcast data from the aircraft themselves and congregating them on the adsb exchange website. Flightradar 24 and FlightAware are frequently requested to remove certain tail numbers from those services but adsb exchange does not do that because it's a communal input effort from freely transmitted data. So the journalists and now everybody else are "on it".

So now that adsb exchange has been revealed on national and world media as the source of revealing corporate jet locations real time, it'll be interesting to see what happens next.

 

[mastr]

Maybe the next market for you-know-what.

 

[drdispatch]

As long as Musk doesn't buy that site too, we should be okay.

 

[wtp]

this is why we can't have nice things...

 

[AB5ID]

I've beena Musk fan, but actions like banning ADSB exchange from Twitter is some douchebagery.

 

[wtp]

so.... people can't just go to the site themselves ?
i would not know his plane and would not go looking for it.
but i also don't use twitter or facebook.

 

[AB5ID]

People can and people do go to the website directly. I've never cared to track any plane in particular. It's just the idea of messing with a companies income and social media presence is kind of petty. But at the end of the day it's his ballgame and his backyard.

 

[dcr_inc]

They were banned for giving his wife and childs location.. His aircraft is not reporting on ADSB exchange (flightradar24, or any other service) it's info is set to private..

 

[RaleighGuy]

They were banned for giving his wife and childs location.. His aircraft is not reporting on ADSB exchange (flightradar24, or any other service) it's info is set to private..

That is totally wrong, his aircraft remains on ADSB Exchange and they were not giving out anyone's location except for the plane itself. There is no information on who was on the plane or where those people went after it landed. Additionally, there is a FAA program (PIA) that owners can use to mask the planes identifier, Musk opted out of that program. Additionally, ADSBx as well as the reporters that covered the story did not give out any information, they simply were the source of information or covered the story.

Please check the full story rather than reading one of Elon's tweets while he was throwing a temper tantrum and taking it at face value.

Elon's jet on the move now, is anyone able to say who is aboard.

 

[GlobalNorth]

The issue is effectively moot. Plenty of the political elite, the wealthy, entertainers, etc. have set their aircraft to private and the public is ignorant to the movement of those aircraft.

 

[RaleighGuy]

The issue is effectively moot. Plenty of the political elite, the wealthy, entertainers, etc. have set their aircraft to private and the public is ignorant to the movement of those aircraft.

Not exactly, there are still ways to locate the hex being used for aircraft in the PIA program. Additionally, PIA assignment may only be changed every 60 days giving high profile aircraft time to be identified. However, as mentioned above, Musk elected not to use the PIA program and only list the aircraft under the LADD program which only keeps the aircraft out of the FAA database, and does not hide it's identity.

How often will I be able to request a new PIA?
An aircraft operator will be able to request a new PIA assignment as follows:
Phase 1: Any time following a 60-calendar day period from a previous PIA assignment.
Phase 2: Any time following a 20-business day period from a previous PIA assignment.
All aircraft information held by FAA may be available from FAA via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) unless the information falls within an exception defined within law (5 U.S.C. § 552). This includes aircraft identification and historical flight information collected by NAS systems for flights which do not qualify for a FOIA exemption.

While an aircraft operator would be able to continue to use the PIA assignment as long as desired, aircraft operators may want to request a renewed PIA on a periodic basis.

ADS-B Privacy | Federal Aviation Administration

ADS-B Privacy

www.faa.gov

 

[cpfinlay]

So now that adsb exchange has been revealed on national and world media as the source of revealing corporate jet locations real time, it'll be interesting to see what happens next.

That's a very thought provoking question. I would think that for the most part, the people who can make laws are users of private jets and/or are friends with those that are...

With the increased public awareness of this capability it will indeed be interesting to see if there is any impact on that aspect of the hobby.

Generally speaking, I am normally only interested in what I can directly receive but am an occasional user of the aggregation services which might be at risk for potentially restrictive legislation.

 

[KF6DGN]

Go check the info Social Links Ground Control and Jack's Info
As you can see it’s on a lot of platforms besides Twitter. I like the Discord page. Has tracking for Bill Gates, Bezos and others. I was tracking Target corporate jet this morning. Elon needs to relax enjoy the World Cup, he flew from San Jose to Doha yesterday.

 

[drdispatch]

...revealing of executive transport aircraft and their real-time locations....

And to be fair, it's not "real-time", it's "*near* real-time". There is a built-in delay.

 

[belvdr]

And to be fair, it's not "real-time", it's "*near* real-time". There is a built-in delay.

It’s really close though, on the order of a second or two.

 

[gary123]

Like always with anything good and useful there is some moron who abuses it.

 

[drdispatch]

Like always with anything good and useful there is some moron who abuses it.

Yep. See post #4 by @wtp

 

[KF6DGN]

Use ADS-B Exchange - track aircraft live not Flightradar24. Has more flights and military. Not restricted like others.

 

[wtp]

yes,
ADS-B Exchange - track aircraft live
and if you clock on the U on the map you will see only military stuff.

 

[wtp]

click
not clock.