Live data from Hacker News

Porn Industry Using Airbnb Rentals as Film Sets

nbclosangeles.com

61–70 of 123 posts

Re: Porn Industry Using Airbnb Rentals as Film Sets

#61
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not required to take every risk with no recourse. A renter might steal from you or leave a spy camera behind, but that's illegal. We could certainly make it illegal to shoot commercial video on someone else's property without their permission.

At least in L.A. it's already illegal to shoot in a rental property (such as a traditionally rented apartment) without the property owner's permission. Still happens multiple times every day. It's more a result of much smaller video crews than anything else these days. Technically a lot of these youtube/podcaster people are in violation of local laws.

> Technically a lot of these youtube/podcaster people are in violation of local laws.

Somehow I doubt that. By that same law then a family recording themselves on Christmas eve and putting the video on YouTube for their friends and family to see are also violating the same law.

Re: Porn Industry Using Airbnb Rentals as Film Sets

#62
post #48
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Airbnb prohibits commercial videos/photos without permission, according to the article.

And most landlords and cities prohibit AirBnB-style rentals, but that has never stopped AirBnB.

Are you sure about that? You seem to missing any sort of a source.

Re: Porn Industry Using Airbnb Rentals as Film Sets

#63
post #2

Hmm, unrelated but I hadn't realised you had laws at the county level too in the USA. I assumed it was federal and state only.

Federal, state, county, and city governments, and special districts (e.g. transit district, school district) all have some degree of legislative power.

Re: Porn Industry Using Airbnb Rentals as Film Sets

#64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. Don't want this to happen? Easy, don't rent your home out. Renting your home out comes with risks, and you do get rewarded for that risk, but there's still risks. Nobody is forcing you to rent it out.

That's a straw man. While no one is forcing me to rent it out, it's common courtesy to let your landlord know of any activities you wish to pursue. After all, it's not your property you're staying in, there's a reason why you're renting it. After all, people rent out their homes on AirBnB for leisure. What porn film makers are doing is capitalizing on AirBnB rentals by circumventing not only regulations (not a fan of…

> That's a straw man.

That's not a straw man. It is a rather cavalier and entitled attitude, however, and I agree with you that it should be common courtesy.

I have noticed a common attitude in the technology sector and amongst gamers, that if you can get away with it, then you are effectively allowed to do it, and if you're "smart," you'll heartlessly exploit all such opportunities that come your way. (Note that I am in the technology sector and would be called a "gamer" by many.)

Underlying such an attitude is the unspoken belief that being "smart" makes one superior to the average person and therefore somehow entitles one to such exploitation. My opinion is that people who express such attitudes are scum who will stab you in the back if the reward is great enough.

Re: Porn Industry Using Airbnb Rentals as Film Sets

#65
post #31
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Airbnb prohibits commercial videos/photos without permission, according to the article.

But what recourse does the homeowner have in that case? And being banned from AirBNB is not really a huge deterrent. Making the behavior illegal would give you more options if it happens to you, and might really make someone think twice.

> Making the behavior illegal

Renting out residentially zoned property on AirBNB or shooting porn?

Re: Porn Industry Using Airbnb Rentals as Film Sets

#66
The thing is it'd be very easy for Airbnb to fix this problem (more or less immediately) if they wanted to: "I agree not to us this dwelling for commercial purposes except as follows ...", leaving space for people to put down legitimate business uses such as remote software development. And then another section indemnifying Airbnb against suing them to collect legal damages, etc.

Re: Porn Industry Using Airbnb Rentals as Film Sets

#67
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not required to take every risk with no recourse. A renter might steal from you or leave a spy camera behind, but that's illegal. We could certainly make it illegal to shoot commercial video on someone else's property without their permission.

But why? Seriously, I don't see why this is an issue. If I rent out my home and a couple stays there. I imagine some sex may happen there. I wouldn't care. If I rent out my home and some people have sex on camera there, and the house is returned to me in the same state, I don't care. Why do you believe this requires a law...?

I think you are being too specific in what you are saying is an issue. If you rent out your house on AirBnB, you are not expecting commercial business to be done in your home. Would you be upset if someone rented your home on AirBnB and then ran a small sweatshop out of it? What if they used it as a temporary slaughter house for animals? The base fact is they used a private property for commercial purposes when they were not legally allowed to do so. To me the general issue is private use vs commercial use.

Re: Porn Industry Using Airbnb Rentals as Film Sets

#68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. Don't want this to happen? Easy, don't rent your home out. Renting your home out comes with risks, and you do get rewarded for that risk, but there's still risks. Nobody is forcing you to rent it out.

That's a straw man. While no one is forcing me to rent it out, it's common courtesy to let your landlord know of any activities you wish to pursue. After all, it's not your property you're staying in, there's a reason why you're renting it. After all, people rent out their homes on AirBnB for leisure. What porn film makers are doing is capitalizing on AirBnB rentals by circumventing not only regulations (not a fan of…

> What porn film makers are doing is capitalizing on AirBnB rentals by circumventing not only regulations (not a fan of but sometimes it's necessary) but they're making a profit from your property

Filmmakers were doing this way before porn or AirBNB, it's called guerilla filmmaking - http://stagebuddy.com/film-tv/best-guerrilla-movies

Re: Porn Industry Using Airbnb Rentals as Film Sets

#69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People will be having sex in your house even without the cameras. That's what people do. Without getting too graphic, there's a HUGE difference between people having sex for fun and a professional porn shoot. The latter is messy, smelly, and causes a surprising amount of lasting damage. There's a reason that so many porn studios film in hotels (and likewise, a reason that so many hotels refuse to rent rooms to peop…

Non-porn people are very capable of making a real mess. Talk to any hotel cleaner. People get drunk, they bleed, they get sick and even die, the later being very rare in porn.

All those positions, all those retakes, on the couch, on the kitchen counters, in the stairwell.

Plus there tend to be additional people on set besides the actors, having takeout food, smoke breaks, etc.

Re: Porn Industry Using Airbnb Rentals as Film Sets

#70
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Airbnb prohibits commercial videos/photos without permission, according to the article.

So someone should make a business of spotting real houses and telling on.

yeah, send me a full 3d model of your house and exterior and i'll watch the videos for you ;)
Post reply on HN