A bipartisan group of more than 100 congressional representatives delivered a letter on Thursday to the leadership of Google and Spirit Airlines demanding they cancel a proposed transaction. Under the arrangement, Google would receive $10 million in exchange for access to sensitive internal data from the now-defunct airline carrier, which it intends to use for training AI systems.

The dataset at issue encompasses approximately 100 million emails, 500 million Microsoft Teams messages, employment agreements, worker records, timecards, payroll information and tax documents, according to a statement from Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV). Google has maintained that the information would be stripped of identifying details before transfer.

The lawmakers expressed reservations about whether standard de-identification practices offer adequate safeguards for worker privacy in the context of modern machine learning systems. "While we understand that Google has stated that it will not receive personally identifiable information and that the data will undergo third-party scrubbing before its transfer, we are concerned that conventional de-identification safeguards may not be sufficient to protect employee privacy in the context of modern artificial intelligence," the letter stated.

The letter, coordinated by Horsford and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), emphasized a fundamental vulnerability in anonymization approaches. "Removing names, email addresses, or other direct identifiers does not necessarily make a dataset anonymous," the lawmakers wrote.

The deal carries particular significance for Las Vegas, where portions of Horsford's district are located. When Spirit announced its closure in May, the airline eliminated nearly 1,000 positions in the city.

Should the companies decide to proceed, the lawmakers outlined several protective measures they should implement. These include establishing a de-identification process that incorporates input from affected former workers, minimizing the volume of employee data transferred, restricting permitted uses of the information and commissioning an "independent employee confidentiality review."

Google has not yet provided a response to inquiries about the matter. Spirit Airlines, having ceased operations, could not be reached for comment.