Panic builds over bankrupt Spirit’s looming data sale to Google
"Bankruptcy cannot become the new land grab for AI.”..
"Bankruptcy cannot become the new land grab for AI.”.
The short version
- Doug Kreuzkamp was shocked when news outlets reported that Google won an auction to buy a huge amount of operational data as part of Spirit Airlines’ bankruptcy proceedings.
- Hundreds of airports use it globally.
- Springshot powered Spirit’s technology stack for the last three years, right up to the “very last flight,” Kreuzkamp told Ars.
What happened
Yet his company got no notice when Spirit prepared to auction off a massive dataset that he thinks likely improperly includes a substantial amount of data and intellectual property (IP) that Springshot owns—not Spirit. In a limited objection filed last month, Springshot argued that Spirit’s sale agreement does not make it clear what data is being sold.
Why it matters
Springshot urged the court to pause Spirit’s data sale until a transparent forensic process establishes that none of the data Google is grabbing is actually owned by third parties.
Summary by Nerd News Network. Read the full article at Ars Technica via the links above and below.