Google pays $10 million for Spirit data containing 100 million emails

Google won an auction to purchase a portion of Spirit Airlines' internal business data for $10 million. The transaction, tied to the airline's bankruptcy proceedings, has drawn immediate scrutiny from labor advocates and federal legislators who are demanding stronger safeguards for former employees. The dataset includes spreadsheets and calendars that Google stated could assist in improving its products and artificial intelligence models.

Lawmakers estimate the records at issue contain 100 million emails and 500 million workplace messages. Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, leads the union representing Spirit flight attendants. She expressed concern that workers could be identified even if their names are removed from the files. Nelson noted that the data became particularly valuable in the age of artificial intelligence for training models. She argued that her members should not be the primary subjects of this data extraction. "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."

Nelson added that data security experts indicate there is no definitive method to de-identify the information when the sale involves a connected workflow. This makes it easy to determine who the sensitive information belongs to. She emphasized that Spirit employees were not responsible for the company's financial collapse. Yet their personal files and life details are now exposed in the transaction. "And our members should not be on the tip of the spear of that," she said.

More than 100 members of Congress sent a letter to Google and Spirit warning that de-identified information can sometimes be re-identified. The lawmakers want specific records excluded from the sale. These exclusions include payroll records, timecards, and some employee communications. They also seek limits on how the data can be used after the purchase.

Google issued a statement responding to the concerns. The company said it is acquiring part of an enterprise dataset from Spirit Airlines. Google stated it is not buying any personal information from Spirit. The information will either be completely excluded or de-identified 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 dataset. The spokesperson referred questions about the potential use of the data to Google.