Airbnb and security camera disclosure
jeffreybigham.com
Airbnb and security camera disclosure
1–10 of 406 posts
Re: Airbnb and security camera disclosure
#2That is kind of creepy indeed. In my country you are allowed to video tape inside your own home and I assume that right extends even if you rent it out temporarily.
I guess far from every host does this, I would even say it's probably very rare. But maybe there is a reason to stay in a hotel after all ;)
Re: Airbnb and security camera disclosure
#3I'm renting houses/apartments on AirBNB and place cameras outside the homes (to watch who's in front of the entrance door, activity). Placing them inside the home is a real privacy concern - a zone that I would never even consider.
The reason for the cameras outside is to watch closely how many people enter as we're constantly fighting prostitution which leads to a pain with neighbors and other stuff.
Re: Airbnb and security camera disclosure
#4"What was I trying to hide on New Year’s Eve..."
Something like this, presumably:
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2016/jan/07/airbnb-new-ye...
It's not an excuse for the owner being an ass, or the inappropriate camera placement and lack of proper disclosure, though.
Re: Airbnb and security camera disclosure
#5After a host made a suspicious/creepy comment about our stay, I started logging into host routers (creds usually printed on the device) and look at what other devices are connected. The camera may not be on that network, or not networked at all, but it’s a little peace of mind.
Re: Airbnb and security camera disclosure
#6That is kind of creepy indeed. In my country you are allowed to video tape inside your own home and I assume that right extends even if you rent it out temporarily. I guess far from every host does this, I would even say it's probably very rare. But maybe there is a reason to stay in a hotel after all ;)
In general privacy law seem to work under the "expectation of privacy", which is why you see signs warning of security cameras or monitors showing what they see.
In a rented room scenario, you obviously have an expectation of privacy up until someone tells you explicitly that there are cameras in the space, at which point I guess you can decide whether or not you want to stay there.
So in this case (and depending on local laws, obviously) it seems like the renter would have to convince a judge that the photo of the room with a white blob in the corner was enough notice to circumvent that expectation of privacy.
Re: Airbnb and security camera disclosure
#7That is kind of creepy indeed. In my country you are allowed to video tape inside your own home and I assume that right extends even if you rent it out temporarily. I guess far from every host does this, I would even say it's probably very rare. But maybe there is a reason to stay in a hotel after all ;)
If you're in the EU it does not. You can record anything you want in the privacy of your home but if you record other people, they need to consent to it. The reasoning described in the article "but there's a camera in the picture of the room so you agreed to it" certainly wouldn't hold up under any interpretation of the GDPR.
Also even if it's your home, if you rent it out, that's a commercial activity even if it's your personal residence.
Re: Airbnb and security camera disclosure
#8I'm renting houses/apartments on AirBNB and place cameras outside the homes (to watch who's in front of the entrance door, activity). Placing them inside the home is a real privacy concern - a zone that I would never even consider. The reason for the cameras outside is to watch closely how many people enter as we're constantly fighting prostitution which leads to a pain with neighbors and other stuff.
No, YOU are the pain to the neighbors. You are probably ruining their family life for a few extra bucks. The neighbors are fighting prostitution, you are facilitating it!!!!
Re: Airbnb and security camera disclosure
#9I used to use AirBnB all the time. Lately I've switched back to using hotels almost exclusively. The camera/privacy thing is a big part of it. I empathize with the hosts to a degree - you don't want people doing outrageous things in your home. But the hosts want their cake and to eat it too. Don't rent out your home if you don't want the risk of people damaging it!
(As a minor aside, I've also noticed the quality of the places I've found on AirBnB has gone down. The homes I stayed at before I quit using it were not very clean (despite the fee!), things were broken, key retrieval was a pain etc. Hotels used to be much more expensive, but price/quality of experience is starting to get more competitive)
It's funny to me, because AirBnB runs in to all the same problems we had with hotels a hundred years ago. We have dozens of taxes, rules, regulations, building codes etc now for hotels. I imagine at some point it will be the same for AirBnBs. What's old is new.
Re: Airbnb and security camera disclosure
#10Placing a camera inside is an outrageous violation of guests' privacy, but at least I understand why they would want to do it. However, the response from AirBnB is simply inexplicable.