Airbnb and security camera disclosure • Hacker News Board

Re: Airbnb and security camera disclosure

#21

Post by sctb » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 2:17 PM UTC

pytyper2 wrote: post #8

chimen wrote: post #3

I'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!!!!

Could you please comment civilly and substantively or not at all?

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Airbnb and security camera disclosure

#22

Post by rjzzleep » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 2:18 PM UTC

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #19

rjzzleep wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently stayed in an AirBnB in Hamburg/Germany. Not only did he write that it's not a hostel everywhere. He used his smart home to keep the temperature below the legal limit and had all internals checked setup with cameras without any information. From the way he talked he also checked whether you exited the shower(not literally the shower, but the bathroom). He also had Bottles of sausages and would check through…

The legal temperature limit for what? For paid accommodation, for hotels? What is that limit; what law is it in?

It's Germany, livable space has to be at least 20 degrees Celsius(68F).

He has summer blankets in the room with spare blankets and tries to charge 1.5 Euro per extra blanket.

Re: Airbnb and security camera disclosure

#23

Post by RankingMember » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 2:21 PM UTC

Reading this made me pissed off for you. AirBnb should have clear prohibitions on cameras in living quarters, regardless of disclosure. This host behavior is wayyy out of line.

Re: Airbnb and security camera disclosure

#24

Post by pytyper2 » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 2:21 PM UTC

sctb wrote: post #21

pytyper2 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!!!!

Could you please comment civilly and substantively or not at all? https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Sorry, I thought I was on Reddit.

Re: Airbnb and security camera disclosure

#25

Post by anc84 » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 2:24 PM UTC

rjzzleep wrote: post #20

detaro wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I seriously hope you reported this to the authorities and not just AirBnB?

It's Germany, and I have dark hair. When I went to file a police report the tall blonde police officer, he and his colleagues were mocking me in the back. I ended up telling them off and will report it to the tax office. Which, while nasty seems to be only thing that will get that guy into trouble, Police at least doesn't care even though he violates a dozen laws including standard German privacy practice.

I am calling bullshit.

There is very little chance that German police in Hamburg would not consider those alligations serious. Lots of Germans have black hair. Few Germans are tall and blonde. German police will file your case in any case.

Re: Airbnb and security camera disclosure

#26

Post by detaro » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 2:33 PM UTC

rjzzleep wrote: post #20

detaro wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I seriously hope you reported this to the authorities and not just AirBnB?

It's Germany, and I have dark hair. When I went to file a police report the tall blonde police officer, he and his colleagues were mocking me in the back. I ended up telling them off and will report it to the tax office. Which, while nasty seems to be only thing that will get that guy into trouble, Police at least doesn't care even though he violates a dozen laws including standard German privacy practice.

Ugh, bad cop. I'd encourage you to try that again/file a complaint, but I understand if you don't want to deal with that.

Hamburg DPO would be another avenue: https://datenschutz-hamburg.de/

If you're interested in involving media, heise.de and golem.de might be interested - at least some of there journalists are on here too.

Re: Airbnb and security camera disclosure

#27

Post by bsenftner » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 2:36 PM UTC

Airbnb is nobody's friend except the CEO and stockholders. Have a problem, tough. File a lawsuit, now we're communicating. This is how Capitalism works.

Re: Airbnb and security camera disclosure

#28

Post by btbuildem » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 2:42 PM UTC

I guess part of the check-in procedure is now to scan the local network and set up IR blinders in private spaces. Sheesh.

Re: Airbnb and security camera disclosure

#29

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 2:44 PM UTC

detaro wrote: post #26

rjzzleep wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's Germany, and I have dark hair. When I went to file a police report the tall blonde police officer, he and his colleagues were mocking me in the back. I ended up telling them off and will report it to the tax office. Which, while nasty seems to be only thing that will get that guy into trouble, Police at least doesn't care even though he violates a dozen laws including standard German privacy practice.

Ugh, bad cop. I'd encourage you to try that again/file a complaint, but I understand if you don't want to deal with that. Hamburg DPO would be another avenue: https://datenschutz-hamburg.de/ If you're interested in involving media, heise.de and golem.de might be interested - at least some of there journalists are on here too.

[deleted]

Re: Airbnb and security camera disclosure

#30

Post by rjzzleep » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 2:45 PM UTC

anc84 wrote: post #25

rjzzleep wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's Germany, and I have dark hair. When I went to file a police report the tall blonde police officer, he and his colleagues were mocking me in the back. I ended up telling them off and will report it to the tax office. Which, while nasty seems to be only thing that will get that guy into trouble, Police at least doesn't care even though he violates a dozen laws including standard German privacy practice.

I am calling bullshit. There is very little chance that German police in Hamburg would not consider those alligations serious. Lots of Germans have black hair. Few Germans are tall and blonde. German police will file your case in any case.

I guess you don't have a lot of experience with the police here.

This is actually very common. Whether you have dark hair or not, the former just makes it more likely. What I learned is that by law they're supposed to do that job. However, the general recommendation is not to go to the police, but rather to write the complaint to the DAs office[1]. Not only is a complaint to the DA office generally more fruitful they also immediately give you a reference number, which is more valuable than what most police officers will give you when you file a complaint there.

I'm going to contact the DPO yes, but I don't have any expectations. I'm not a big fan of Casper actually, his last legal publication is about animal rights. The SH DPO is way better efficient and faster at decisions. The line up is two ladies leading it, one of them with a technical background(computer scientist) and the other one a lawyer[2]. I work in German government, and we even tried to pay SH to get feedback(something they won't do).

That's why I was surprised when the Hamburg DPO received praise at the 35C3, since that's not inline with what I've seen from them at all.

[1] https://www.unternehmer.de/recht-gesetze/122808-so-erstatten... [2] https://www.datenschutzzentrum.de/ueber-uns/