Flight Attendants Raise Concerns Over Google's Acquisition of Spirit Airlines Employee Data

Last Friday, Google won an auction to acquire a large set of Spirit Airlines data, which consists of nearly the entire employment and workplace record of the airline rather than customer or personal information. To prevent individual identification, Google agreed to have a court-appointed ombudsman oversee the removal of personally identifying information before the data is transferred. The company must keep the data de-identified and is barred from intentionally re-identifying it, with any third party granted access bound by the same restrictions.