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Airbnb Adopts Rules in Effort to Fight Discrimination by Its Hosts

nytimes.com

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Re: Airbnb Adopts Rules in Effort to Fight Discrimination by Its Hosts

#271

Post by serge2k »

Chronic9q wrote: post #229
hackuser wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> prevent people from making choices that they don't agree with, which was basically the opposite of the point of the US. I'd stay away from these issues on HN unless we really have something valuable and new to add. I'll just say that there's another side to this and many strongly disagree with this notion. To sum it up and just put both sides out there (hopefully not starting a debate), people facing widespread dis…

It's my home and I do what I want. If you're black and I don't like you, I have every right not to let you into my house, no matter your history. You cannot debate this statement.

That's fine.

Until you have a little business in that home and are now refusing paying customers.

Re: Airbnb Adopts Rules in Effort to Fight Discrimination by Its Hosts

#272

Post by yardie »

hackaflocka wrote: post #181
dilap wrote: post #6

I don't know if this is really a tractable problem. At the end of the day, either airbnb lets hosts decide who stays or doesn't. If they don't let hosts decide, they'll likely lose a ton of hosts, since having someone stay in your home is a very personal thing and a huge risk. If they do, then they're going to have significant discrimination problems as long as people are discriminatory, i.e., basically forever.

The idea of forcing owners to let people who are not compatible, stay with them, is ridiculous. I'm Indian and smell of curry (probably... at least a few times a month). If someone hates the smell of curry, they should be allowed to blanket disallow Indians from staying.

I'm West Indian and I love curry. And I also don't smell like it. What the hell do you do, bathe in it?

Re: Airbnb Adopts Rules in Effort to Fight Discrimination by Its Hosts

#273

Post by joeyo »

Chronic9q wrote: post #229
hackuser wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> prevent people from making choices that they don't agree with, which was basically the opposite of the point of the US. I'd stay away from these issues on HN unless we really have something valuable and new to add. I'll just say that there's another side to this and many strongly disagree with this notion. To sum it up and just put both sides out there (hopefully not starting a debate), people facing widespread dis…

It's my home and I do what I want. If you're black and I don't like you, I have every right not to let you into my house, no matter your history. You cannot debate this statement.

Maybe so, but once you enter into business arrangement to bring people into your home, other considerations start to apply. You can always choose not to rent out your home...

Re: Airbnb Adopts Rules in Effort to Fight Discrimination by Its Hosts

#274

Post by wonder_er »

untog wrote: post #257
exclusiv wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're comparing employment with staying at someone's HOME.

If you choose to make your home a place of business, you must comply with business rules. They're providing a service in return for money, they have to declare the earnings from such for tax purposes... there is no line here. A psychiatrist who operates out of a home office has no legal right to discriminate based on race, either.

This is a case for dropping employment laws, not enforcing them on a wider class of people.

Re: Airbnb Adopts Rules in Effort to Fight Discrimination by Its Hosts

#275

Post by AgentME »

brightball wrote: post #27
dilap wrote: post #6

I don't know if this is really a tractable problem. At the end of the day, either airbnb lets hosts decide who stays or doesn't. If they don't let hosts decide, they'll likely lose a ton of hosts, since having someone stay in your home is a very personal thing and a huge risk. If they do, then they're going to have significant discrimination problems as long as people are discriminatory, i.e., basically forever.

That was my thought here as well. It's one thing to have very public businesses with anti-discrimination rules, but something like Air BnB where people have to decide in most cases who they are going to let into their homes is a much more complicated problem. We're seeing a wide trend in the US where people want rules to prevent people from making choices that they don't agree with, which was basically the opposite o…

>We're seeing a wide trend in the US where people want rules to prevent people from making choices that they don't agree with, which was basically the opposite of the point of the US.

Doesn't that describe every rule ever? I don't think the point of the US was to be lawless.

Re: Airbnb Adopts Rules in Effort to Fight Discrimination by Its Hosts

#276

Post by serge2k »

Unklejoe wrote: post #206
eropple wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have personal preferences about whom you conduct business with , you shouldn't be allowed to conduct business with anyone. This isn't about your home; this is about your use of your home as a capital asset. You can allow into your home anyone you choose to and bar anyone you choose to. But as a society we have agreed that we--through our government--most certainly have a stake in making sure that you treat oth…

[If you have personal preferences about whom you conduct business with, you shouldn't be allowed to conduct business with anyone.] Why? If someone chooses to discriminate, why not let them suffer the consequences of lost potential revenue naturally? It gives people who don't discriminate a chance to step in and gain market share. It reminds me of the story of the bakery who wouldn't make a wedding cake for a gay coup…

because it also effects those being discriminated against. At the very least that couple had to put up with another fresh dose of hatred and bigotry against them, and spend their time looking for another baker.

Depending on how bad the problem is you could end up with ghettos and other nasty things because of people who aren't able to get any sort of service.

Re: Airbnb Adopts Rules in Effort to Fight Discrimination by Its Hosts

#277

Post by hackuser »

bitL wrote: post #266
hackuser wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The facts are that certain groups have far more opportunity than others, including access to education, jobs, health care, power in their communities - and now Airbnb rooms, among many other things - not just access to upper echelons (though that is an issue too, because it means these groups lack a seat at the table when decisions are made). The extensive, overwhelming research, and centuries of history show which g…

Most of us would love to see the real social justice. There were many whites trying their best to help the rest of the world, often with self-inflicted wounds from their own culture, as well as many whites that wanted to dominate the rest (but were Ottomans, Mongols, Huns, Kushites etc. any better back in their days?) Look, a few thousands years ago the dominant culture were Egyptian, Babylonian etc. Then there was C…

It's long, but unsubstantiated and generally factually wrong, including its characterizations of my comment: I don't say most of the things you allege.

I don't divide the world into groups of people based on skin color, and then assign group achievements and faults as if they are a team, and imagine there is some competition or racial Olympics. That premise is the root of the problem. I see individuals and mutual benefit when they do better, not a zero sum competition. The fact - not speculation - is that many of those individuals are suffering from racism.

Re: Airbnb Adopts Rules in Effort to Fight Discrimination by Its Hosts

#278

Post by ceejayoz »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #233
ch4s3 wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Certain cultures are known for having lots of kids and not raising them to be quiet or disciplined Do you realize that you are literally parroting a racist trope?

No, I specified culture, not race. The way of life is the problem, not someone's skin color or biological features. For example, you wouldn't want gypsies in your residence or hotel, they WILL cause problems and it will negatively effect your other hotel guests. For similar reasons you wouldn't want to live next to them either. Another culture is that of the rich (especially newly rich), where their wealth has allowe…

> No, I specified culture, not race.

"You start out in 1954 by saying, 'Nigger, nigger, nigger.' By 1968 you can't say 'nigger' — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract now [that] you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me — because obviously sitting around saying, 'We want to cut this,' is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than 'Nigger, nigger.'"

- Lee Atwater, inventor of the Southern Strategy

Re: Airbnb Adopts Rules in Effort to Fight Discrimination by Its Hosts

#279

Post by dajohnson89 »

Spooky23 wrote: post #236
runako wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> very public businesses One might argue that posting pictures of the interior of a residence, advertising it for rent by the night, and posting a price for such privilege is what makes a hotel a "very public business." (It's also why regulations apply to hotels.) One might also wonder that if these properties make a hotel or B&B a public business, what's different about AirBnB rentals? Sure enough, back in 1964 the…

AirBNB has already established that they consider themselves very "special". Most other activities happening in your home, including renting out a room to a housemate, are not subject to discrimination laws. If you don't want a particular type of person in your home, you should have that right, whether that's because you have a safety or other concern, or because you are a racist asshole. If AirBNB wants to pretend i…

Agreed completely. This is why shared home adverts are exempt from FHA regulations.

Re: Airbnb Adopts Rules in Effort to Fight Discrimination by Its Hosts

#280

Post by dajohnson89 »

serge2k wrote: post #271
Chronic9q wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's my home and I do what I want. If you're black and I don't like you, I have every right not to let you into my house, no matter your history. You cannot debate this statement.

That's fine. Until you have a little business in that home and are now refusing paying customers.

Nope, still fine even then. You do realize that if I rent out a room in my home (say, for a year's lease), I can discriminate on any basis I so choose?
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