Congress and flight attendants union contest Spirit Airlines data sale to Google

A group of more than 100 members of Congress and the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA are demanding privacy safeguards for former Spirit Airlines staff after Google won an auction for the airline's internal business data. The tech giant purchased the dataset for $10 million as part of Spirit's bankruptcy proceedings.

The collection consists of 100 million emails and 500 million workplace messages, including spreadsheets and calendars. Google stated that the data will help improve its products and artificial intelligence models. The purchase has triggered a debate over how much personal information is embedded in corporate records sold to private buyers.

Sara Nelson, the union president, expressed concern that workers could still be identified even if their names are removed from the files. She noted that the aviation industry is unregulated regarding data privacy, leaving employees without legal protections for their digital records. Nelson argued that the data became valuable primarily because of the current demand for AI training materials.

"And this is really only data that became valuable in the age of AI in order to train models to replace jobs and commodify other portions of working in a work environment," Nelson said. She added that her members should not bear the burden of data extraction while trying to navigate a company's financial collapse.

Nelson emphasized that Spirit employees were not responsible for the airline going out of business. She pointed out that security experts warn there is no reliable way to fully de-identify information when the data must maintain a functional workflow. This makes it easy for analysts to trace sensitive details back to specific individuals.

In a letter to Google and Spirit, the lawmakers warned that de-identified information can often be re-identified. They are requesting that payroll records, timecards, and certain employee communications be excluded from the sale entirely. The group also seeks limits on how the remaining data can be used once transferred.

Google responded by stating it is acquiring part of an enterprise dataset, not personal information. The company said any personal details will be either completely excluded or deidentified by an independent third party before the data reaches Google. Spirit representatives declined an on-camera interview. A company spokesperson said it cannot explain why Google wants the dataset and referred questions about its potential use to Google.