Bankrupt airline Spirit's customer data may be sold to Google

Bankrupt Spirit Airlines is reportedly moving to sell customer data as part of its liquidation, with Google as a potential buyer. Critics warn bankruptcy proceedings shouldn't become a way to transfer large personal-data troves to AI companies outside normal privacy scrutiny.

Why it matters: If data-rich but financially distressed companies can pass personal data to AI firms through bankruptcy sales, it creates a route around the consent and data-use restrictions that would apply to a normal acquisition. Expect this case to become a template regulators scrutinize as more struggling data-holders liquidate assets to AI-hungry buyers.