Flight Attendants Challenge Google's Spirit Data Deal Covering Nearly All Employee Records
Updated
Updated · Ars Technica · Aug 19
Flight Attendants Challenge Google's Spirit Data Deal Covering Nearly All Employee Records
3 articles · Updated · Ars Technica · Aug 19
Summary
Tuesday’s court filing by the Association of Flight Attendants asks a judge to block or revisit Google’s purchase of Spirit Airlines data, arguing the deal exposes workers because it centers on employee records rather than customer information.
Last Friday, Google won an auction for a dataset spanning nearly Spirit’s entire employment and workplace history, with an ombudsman set to remove personally identifying information before transfer.
The union says that safeguard is built on consumer-protection law and does not cover worker confidentiality, leaving a loophole for sensitive employee details to remain linkable even after the data is scrubbed.
Google has agreed to keep the dataset de-identified, not intentionally re-identify it, and bind any third-party buyers to the same terms, but former flight attendants say those promises still fall short for employee privacy.