A court-appointed privacy ombudsman has recommended approval of Google's $10 million bid for Spirit Airlines' old data, citing privacy safeguards the companies added. Unions representing Spirit flight attendants and pilots are still fighting the sale, and a bankruptcy court hearing is set for October 14.
Google's bid to buy Spirit Airlines' old data got a boost on Monday when a court-appointed consumer privacy ombudsman recommended the sale be approved. Lucy Thomson, the ombudsman, pointed to steps Spirit and Google took to limit risks to passenger privacy.
"taken consequential steps to protect the privacy of the personal data," Thomson said in the filing.
Privacy safeguards added to the deal
The filing said the companies revised the scope of personal consumer data included in the sale, excluded passenger databases, and hired a third party, Tonic.ai, to de-identify data that could contain consumers' personal information, such as company emails. The changes, the filing said, would significantly reduce the potential risk of harm to the 97 million consumers who gave Spirit their personal data to book airline travel. It added that any risk of privacy losses to consumers had been eliminated or mitigated.
Google won the data in an auction after Spirit Airlines shut down in May, with a $10 million bid. The sale still needs court approval. Google has said the data would help improve its products and AI models, and the company has previously said it is not buying any personal information from Spirit, since the information will either be excluded entirely or de-identified by an independent third party before Google receives it.
Unions still object
Unions representing Spirit flight attendants and pilots have objected to the sale, arguing it would undermine their privacy. The union representing American Airlines pilots, including some 700 who formerly worked for Spirit, joined the objection last week, arguing the sale could hinder aviation safety.
The ombudsman's review covered consumer privacy risk under US bankruptcy law and did not examine whether the sale posed any privacy risks to employees.
What happens next
A hearing on the proposed sale is scheduled for October 14, and approval is ultimately up to the court despite the ombudsman's favorable recommendation. The filing also said that if other bidders for the data are considered — including AI training companies Mercor and Micro1 — additional privacy review would be needed. The ombudsman said she would need more information about a supply chain security incident that occurred earlier this year at Mercor.
Source: Business Insider
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