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New York Subpoenaed AirBnb For All NYC User Data

Posted by Unknown on from the have-some-bedbugs dept.

Daniel_Stuckey writes "The war between New York City and Airbnb is raging on, and the future of the hospitality business hangs in the balance. The city is fighting the startup for breaking local laws against operating an illegal hotel out of your home, worried that hustlers are abusing the online service to turn a profit. To that end, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman just slapped the company with a subpoena to hand over the user data of all New Yorkers who've listed their apartment on the site, the New York Daily News reported today. That's about 225,000 users."

6 of 181 comments (clear)

  1. Look past the article's version of the cast ... by timothy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Don'tcha love it that "turning a profit" is here characterized as "abuse"? And to be clear, it's not "the city" in the abstract that has anything against things like AirBnB -- nor is it guests. It's established hotel businesses, which would prefer the current low supply of rooms and the current scheme of regulation which lets *them* profit from the current configuration.

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    jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
    1. Re:Look past the article's version of the cast ... by PktLoss · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I very much think the city can have an issue on its own, without the hotel lobby being involved.

      Property owners are learning that they can make more money posting their apartments on AirBnB than renting them out traditionally. It's in their economic best interest to hire a cleaning service, throw in some flat-pack furniture, and stop renting normally. This distorts the rental market as people who live in the city end up competing with short-term tourists for places to live. Cities want to be somewhere people live, not just somewhere people visit.

      AirBnB hosts also compete against hotels with a stacked deck. They're not forced to charge the standard hotel-night taxes, nor meet ID checking requirements on guests, pay commercial property tax, meet commercial firecode requirements, etc. I can understand why hotels would be angry, but they're far from the only group with a vested interest in the outcome.

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      paul reinheimer
    2. Re:Look past the article's version of the cast ... by Diss+Champ · · Score: 5, Insightful

      the current scheme of regulation which lets *them* profit

      You are spinning it the other way. Regulation are also costing them. I'm sure lot of hotel would be fine just not having those pesky regulation getting in the way (like you know fire protection, hygiene, using legit employees, insurances, ...)

      On the contrary, as long as the regulations exist and are enforced, the hotels are perfectly happy to include the costs of satisfying the city that they are in compliance (whether by complying or otherwise) by increasing what they charge people to stay. The more regulations, the harder it is for someone to enter the market and compete with them. They (probably correctly) see AirBnb as a form of competition, and are happy to use the regulations as a club to pound on the competition with.

    3. Re:Look past the article's version of the cast ... by Jawnn · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Right. The "problem" in NYC is "the government". No. Seriously. You are quite correct, as in "The government has become the willing lackey for doing the bidding of the monied interests who pay to have 'their' candidates elected." The blame for this lies with elections laws that allow such influence peddling and with an electorate that has failed almost completely to keep itself informed about the issues affecting it and policies of those they elect.

  2. How dare people try and turn a profit by schwit1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    AirBnb, please tell the city to go F itself. If the city has a problem with certain property owners they can request data on those specific owners. The city shouldn't be permitted to go on a fishing expedition to prove a theory.

    This is just like the NSA demanding all phone records from Verizon with the possibility that only a few may be terrorists.

  3. Re:Probably cause by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yes, he can. It is illegal in New York to rent real estate for any length of time without the proper permits and licenses. Listing a room on AirBnB is prima facie evidence that you've broken these laws and easilly rises to the level of probable cause (with an "e").