Union and 100 Lawmakers Challenge Google's $10 Million Purchase of Spirit Data

One hundred million emails and 500 million workplace messages are central to a data sale that has drawn the attention of more than 100 members of Congress and a national flight attendant union. Google recently won an auction to acquire a portion of Spirit Airlines' internal business data for $10 million as part of the airline's bankruptcy proceedings. The dataset includes spreadsheets and calendars, which the company said could assist in improving its products and artificial intelligence models.

Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, represents Spirit flight attendants and has raised concerns regarding employee privacy. Nelson stated that workers might still be identifiable even if their names are removed from the files. She noted that the data became valuable primarily in the age of AI, where it is used to train models that may replace jobs.

"AI is a fast-growing industry that is completely unregulated," Nelson said. "So, as we started delving into this issue, we found that there were no protections on the books for employees." She added that her members should not be at the forefront of this technological shift while the company's financial failure was not their fault.

Nelson emphasized that data security experts indicate there is no reliable method to de-identify information when a workflow is connected to the sale. This makes it easy to determine who the sensitive information belongs to. She described the situation as having employees' entire lives splayed out in their personal files, which is what the union aims to protect against.

In a letter addressed to Google and Spirit, the lawmakers warned that de-identified information can sometimes be re-identified. They requested that payroll records, timecards, and certain employee communications be excluded from the sale. The group also sought limits on how the acquired data could be used.

Google provided a written statement in response to inquiries. The company said it is acquiring part of an enterprise dataset to help improve its products and AI models. Google clarified that it is not buying any personal information from Spirit. The information will be either completely excluded or deidentified by an independent third party before Google receives the data.

Spirit representatives declined an on-camera interview. A spokesperson said the company cannot speak to why Google is seeking the specific data set and referred questions about the data's potential use to Google.