Panic builds over bankrupt Spirit’s looming data sale to Google

精神航空破产在即，向谷歌出售数据引发恐慌

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. Kreuzkamp founded a startup called Springshot in 2011, which created a widely used proprietary platform that helps humans and AI systems improve airline efficiency and quickly solve logistics problems so flights can stay on time and airlines can operate as smoothly as possible. Hundreds of airports use it globally.

当新闻媒体报道谷歌在精神航空（Spirit Airlines）的破产程序中竞拍购得海量运营数据时，Doug Kreuzkamp 感到十分震惊。Kreuzkamp 于 2011 年创立了初创公司 Springshot，该公司开发了一个被广泛使用的专有平台，旨在帮助人类和人工智能系统提高航空效率，并快速解决物流问题，从而确保航班准点，使航空公司能够尽可能顺畅地运营。全球有数百个机场都在使用该平台。

Springshot powered Spirit’s technology stack for the last three years, right up to the “very last flight,” Kreuzkamp told Ars. 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.

Kreuzkamp 告诉 Ars，在过去三年里，Springshot 一直为精神航空的技术栈提供支持，直到其“最后一次飞行”。然而，当精神航空准备拍卖一个庞大的数据集时，他的公司却未收到任何通知。他认为，该数据集很可能不当地包含了大量属于 Springshot 而非精神航空的数据和知识产权（IP）。

In a limited objection filed last month, Springshot argued that Spirit’s sale agreement does not make it clear what data is being sold. It only vaguely references categories of data that would possibly rope in Springshot data, including “productivity and collaboration data,” “core business systems and business application data,” and “workflow and process data.”

在上个月提交的一份有限异议书中，Springshot 指出，精神航空的销售协议并未明确说明具体出售哪些数据。协议仅模糊地提及了可能涵盖 Springshot 数据的类别，包括“生产力和协作数据”、“核心业务系统和业务应用数据”以及“工作流和流程数据”。

“This expansive definition does nothing to differentiate between Springshot’s intellectual property that exists within Spirit’s data repositories and systems, but Spirit does not own, and Spirit data that it actually owns and has the capacity to sell,” Springshot argued.

Springshot 辩称：“这种宽泛的定义根本无法区分哪些是存在于精神航空数据存储库和系统中、但精神航空并不拥有的 Springshot 知识产权，哪些是精神航空真正拥有并有权出售的数据。”

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. If the bankruptcy court does not “pump the brakes,” it risks sanctioning an “unauthorized acquisition and use of trade secrets” that could doom startups, Springshot alleged.

Springshot 敦促法院暂停精神航空的数据出售，直到通过透明的取证程序确认谷歌获取的数据中不包含任何属于第三方的数据。Springshot 声称，如果破产法院不“踩刹车”，就有可能批准“未经授权获取和使用商业机密”的行为，这可能会导致初创公司陷入绝境。

In an email to Ars, Springshot summarized its fears as the court possibly creating “a precedent where startups see massive amounts of IP transferred to the world’s richest and most monopolistic companies via bankruptcy courts.” “Bankruptcy cannot become the new land grab for AI,” Kreuzkamp told Ars. “The possession of IP is not ownership.”

在给 Ars 的一封电子邮件中，Springshot 总结了他们的担忧：法院可能会开创一个先例，即“初创公司眼睁睁看着大量知识产权通过破产法院转移给世界上最富有、最垄断的公司”。Kreuzkamp 对 Ars 表示：“破产不能成为人工智能圈地运动的新手段。拥有知识产权并不等同于拥有所有权。”

Asked for comment, Google’s spokesperson declined to discuss mounting objections and repeated a prior statement provided to Ars that did not address any of the concerns raised. “We acquired part of an enterprise dataset from Spirit Airlines, which can be helpful in improving our products and AI models,” Google’s spokesperson said. “We will not receive any personal information from this dataset.”

当被要求置评时，谷歌发言人拒绝讨论日益增加的异议，并重复了此前提供给 Ars 的声明，该声明并未回应所提出的任何担忧。谷歌发言人表示：“我们从精神航空获取了部分企业数据集，这有助于改进我们的产品和人工智能模型。我们不会从该数据集中获取任何个人信息。”

It seems likely that a wide range of Spirit vendors could be in the same spot as Springshot, Kreuzkamp suspects, and his firm is not the only one complaining. Citing Springshot’s concerns in a separate objection, the International Aero Engines LLC and the IAE International Aero Engines AG alleged that the dataset might also include its proprietary commercial information, technical data, and financial data.

Kreuzkamp 怀疑，精神航空的许多供应商可能都处于与 Springshot 相同的境地，而且他的公司并非唯一提出投诉的机构。国际航空发动机公司（International Aero Engines LLC）和 IAE 国际航空发动机公司（IAE International Aero Engines AG）在另一份异议书中引用了 Springshot 的担忧，声称该数据集可能还包含了其专有的商业信息、技术数据和财务数据。

Both vendors cited confidentiality provisions in Spirit agreements that appear to have been completely ignored in the push to get the data sale approved. Top concerns are that proprietary data could be transferred to Google without consent, giving firms no chance to guard against Google—or a third party later gaining access to the data—infringing ownership rights and exposing trade secrets.

两家供应商都提到了精神航空协议中的保密条款，这些条款在推动数据销售获批的过程中似乎被完全忽视了。他们最担心的是，专有数据可能在未经同意的情况下被转移给谷歌，使这些公司无法防范谷歌（或后来获得数据访问权的第三方）侵犯其所有权并泄露商业机密。

Both vendors said they risked irreparable harm through the sale to Google and then again through possible resales to future third parties. For Springshot, it also seems possible that Google could use its valuable IP to create a rival product.

两家供应商均表示，向谷歌出售数据，以及随后可能向未来第三方转售数据，都可能给他们带来不可挽回的损害。对于 Springshot 而言，谷歌还有可能利用其宝贵的知识产权来开发竞争产品。

In August, just a week before the controversial Spirit auction, Europe’s largest airline, Ryanair, announced a five-year partnership with Google. Under the deal, Ryanair will share operational data to improve Gemini Enterprise tools. That “is precisely the function Springshot served for Spirit,” the startup said in a footnote in its objection, while alleging that “Springshot’s data may be among the most AI-relevant assets to be purchased.”

今年 8 月，就在备受争议的精神航空拍卖会前一周，欧洲最大的航空公司瑞安航空（Ryanair）宣布与谷歌建立为期五年的合作伙伴关系。根据协议，瑞安航空将共享运营数据以改进 Gemini 企业版工具。这家初创公司在异议书的脚注中指出，这“正是 Springshot 为精神航空提供的功能”，并声称“Springshot 的数据可能是此次收购中最具人工智能价值的资产之一”。

As Springshot argued: “Should the sale proceed without such safeguards, and should Google obtain Springshot’s intellectual property and ingest that data, Springshot would forfeit the value of its technology it has spent 15 years developing. That existential threat is only amplified by the fact that Google has recently announced its desire to operationalize its own AI platform for airline operations, placing it in direct competition with Springshot.”

正如 Springshot 所言：“如果销售在没有此类保障措施的情况下进行，且谷歌获取了 Springshot 的知识产权并摄取了这些数据，Springshot 将失去其花费 15 年时间开发的技术价值。这种生存威胁因一个事实而加剧：谷歌最近宣布希望将其自身的人工智能平台应用于航空运营，这使其与 Springshot 形成了直接竞争。”

Adam Schwartz, a privacy litigation director for a digital rights nonprofit called the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told Ars that allowing Google to buy this dataset via bankruptcy proceedings is unusual. “This is the first time I am aware of so public a bankruptcy proceeding regarding whether a bankrupt company may sell off the personal data it has amassed as an asset in bankruptcy,” Schwartz said. “It is also the first time I am aware of a company seeking to sell its employees’ data (as opposed to its customers’ data) as an asset in bankruptcy.”

数字权利非营利组织电子前沿基金会（Electronic Frontier Foundation）的隐私诉讼主任 Adam Schwartz 告诉 Ars，允许谷歌通过破产程序购买此数据集是不寻常的。“据我所知，这是第一次出现如此公开的破产程序，讨论一家破产公司是否可以将其积累的个人数据作为破产资产进行出售，”Schwartz 说，“这也是我第一次听说有公司试图将其员工数据（而非客户数据）作为破产资产出售。”

Kreuzkamp is worried that because bankruptcy courts have not deeply considered this issue before, the system is just not set up to protect vendors like his company. In the past, it was straightforward to determine who owned an asset. Consider how Spirit is selling airplanes, which bills of sale clearly demonstrate that it owns, he said. His experience suggests that when it comes to digital assets, courts don’t have the proper notice provisions that are necessary to ensure vendors can advocate for IP to be segregated from sales, should purchases like Google’s become the norm.

Kreuzkamp 担心，由于破产法院此前并未深入考虑过这个问题，目前的系统根本无法保护像他公司这样的供应商。他说，在过去，确定资产所有权很简单。以精神航空出售飞机为例，销售单据清楚地证明了其所有权。他的经验表明，在涉及数字资产时，法院缺乏必要的通知条款，无法确保在谷歌此类收购成为常态的情况下，供应商能够主张将知识产权从销售中剥离出来。

“Our main concern with everything is if you want startups to continue building, you need to protect what they built,” Kreuzkamp told Ars. “If they spent 15 years…”

“我们最关心的是，如果你希望初创公司继续创新，你就必须保护他们的劳动成果，”Kreuzkamp 告诉 Ars。“如果他们花了 15 年时间……”