Airbnb Cares About Profit – Not Protecting You
CNN published an explosive expose on how Airbnb fails to protect guests from hidden cameras.
In a lawsuit brought by a victim whose vacation turned into a nightmare, a women was secretly recorded undressing at an Airbnb property, her images were stored on a computer belonging to an (alleged) sexual predator. The predator is accused of spying on renters for years.
Airbnb tends to use the “platform” defense. We don’t own the properties, we don’t control the properties – hear no evil, see no evil, etc.
Typically the company tries to secretly and quickly negotiate a settlement in these hidden camera cases and then paper it over with an NDA stopping the victim from talking about what happened.
This case; it is a bit different.
An Airbnb representative being deposed in this case said that the company has generated tens of thousands of customer support tickets regarding hidden cameras in the last decade.
Of course, this does not include an unknown number of cases where the renter was photographed and did not discover the camera.
So what does Airbnb do when a customer complains? One thing it does not do is notify law enforcement. That would be bad for their reputation and their balance sheet. Even if the case involves kiddie porn they still don’t notify the cops.
The company may, however, reach out to the host so that they have an opportunity to destroy any evidence.
The user agreement does not prohibit the renter from reporting a suspected crime with the local police. Obviously, this is the short term rental company’s worst nightmare because the user agreement does not cover law enforcement.
They also fight any form of regulation as that also might hurt their bottom line. They say that regulations would cause them “irreparable harm”. One out is for a guest who is not the renter to file the lawsuit. Since they don’t have an Airbnb account, the terms of the agreement are not binding on them.
Even so, thousands of images have been recovered by law enforcement from cameras in bedrooms and bathrooms showing guests changing clothes, being with their children and having sex.
“This is not my Social Security number or my email address. This is my naked body,” said one woman whose host secretly recorded her having sex with her husband at a cottage in Texas.
While the company does background checks on hosts, their website says that customers should not rely on those background checks to identify all criminal convictions or sex offender registrations.
And, more disturbingly, even if Airbnb discovers that a host has a murder, terrorism, rape or child molestation conviction, that does not disqualify them from being a host.
Airbnb did finally succumb to pressure in April and banned indoor cameras BUT, THERE IS NO OVERSIGHT OF THIS. THERE IS NO WAY FOR A CUSTOMER TO KNOW IF THE HOST IS ACTUALLY FOLLOWING THE RULES.
Airbnb said, in the deposition, that some of the tens of thousands of complaints received could be related to a malfunctioning doorbell camera. Some ex-employees who agreed to speak to CNN and violate their non-disclosure agreement said they never saw a complaint about a doorbell camera ever.
In one case Airbnb asked the guest whether they could contact the host. They said no and contacted the police the next day. In that case, police executed a search warrant on the host’s home and recovered more than 2,000 images, including some of children.
This is not limited to Airbnb; VRBO has similar problems and lawsuits.
In this Airbnb case, the host had superhost status, so that apparently does not mean that you are safe.
Fundamentally, it is up to you to find the hidden cameras. If you rent from any of these short term rental companies, you should definitely read the article.
Credit: CNN
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