Google Bid $10M For Spirit Airlines Data, Employee Privacy Concerns Raised

Google’s $10 million bid for Spirit Airlines’ internal business data is raising questions about what can happen to employees’ workplace communications after a company shuts down , Business Insider reports. Google won a bankruptcy auction for a collection of Spirit’s corporate data, including internal documents, workflows, employee emails, Microsoft Teams messages, and software code. The proposed sale remains subject to approval by a U.S. bankruptcy court. The data includes about 100 million emails and 500 million Teams messages, according to court filings. Google outbid AI recruiting company Mercor, which submitted a $7.5 million offer. Google has said it could use the information for product development and artificial intelligence systems. The company said a third party would remove personally identifiable information before transferring the data. The sale excludes passenger profiles, loyalty program records, and other customer information. The transaction highlights the limited control workers can have over communications created and stored on employer-owned systems. Employment and privacy experts told the outlet that workplace emails, chats, and other information generated through company systems can generally be retained and used by employers, depending on company policies and applicable laws. Workers should not assume those communications will remain private or disappear after they leave a job. The growing value of workplace data comes as technolo…