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People Keep Finding Hidden Cameras in Their Airbnbs (buzzfeed.com)
"Airbnb has a scary problem on their hands: People keep finding hidden cameras in their rental homes," reports the New York Post. "Another host was busted last month trying to film guests without their knowledge -- marking the second time since October that the company has had to publicly deal with this sort of incident." BuzzFeed reports:
In October, an Indiana couple visiting Florida discovered a hidden camera disguised as a smoke detector in their Airbnb's master bedroom. Earlier that same year Airbnb was forced to investigate and suspend a Montreal listing after one of the renters discovered a camera in the bedroom of the property... Hidden cameras aren't just an issue for Airbnb -- it's been a hot-button topic in hospitality for years. There are hundreds of stories about hotels using unlawful surveillance. [For example, this one.]
Airbnb recommends its customers read the reviews of the host of any rental property they might be interested in, and also offers an on-platform messaging tool that allows communication between host and guests... "Cameras are never allowed in bathrooms or bedrooms; any other cameras must be properly disclosed to guests ahead of time," Airbnb spokesperson Jeff Henry told BuzzFeed News.
This time the couple discovered hidden cameras that were disguised as a motion detectors. Airbnb says they've permanently banned the offending host -- and offered his guests a refund -- adding that this type of incident was "incredibly rare."
Airbnb recommends its customers read the reviews of the host of any rental property they might be interested in, and also offers an on-platform messaging tool that allows communication between host and guests... "Cameras are never allowed in bathrooms or bedrooms; any other cameras must be properly disclosed to guests ahead of time," Airbnb spokesperson Jeff Henry told BuzzFeed News.
This time the couple discovered hidden cameras that were disguised as a motion detectors. Airbnb says they've permanently banned the offending host -- and offered his guests a refund -- adding that this type of incident was "incredibly rare."
Cause I could SWEAR videotaping someone nude without their consent in an area that has a CLEAR expectation of Privacy, is a FELONY. Arrest The SOB "Host" and CHARGE THEM WITH THEIR CRIME! This WILL NOT stop until you do!
Cameras should be banned in all private spaces, not only bathrooms and bedrooms -- if you're renting the entire apartment on AirBNB, they should be banned in the living room, dining room, kitchen too. If it's not a shared space, people could be intimate or naked anywhere in it.
Also, if there's audio recording, there's a risk of picking up conversations intended to be private, which almost certainly violates the law even in states that have one-party consent laws.
The "hosts" installing the cameras shouldn't only be banned from AirBNB. They should be jailed and fined. Or just have their asses whupped by someone who rented from them. Violating people's privacy is a serious crime, and should be treated as such.
Or merely rarely caught?
Or - more to the point, sufficiently rarely caught and publicized that a company flack thinks he can get away with calling it "incredibly rare"?
Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
If you come across one of these, steal the camera.
The host won't dare ask where their illegal spy camera overlooking the bed is.
We had some illegal cameras we found in one of our buildings that we simply took down. No one ever asked about them ( and they were pricey cameras ) because doing so would be admitting putting them up illegally in the first place.
Is /. using your webcam to spy on you? No? Then what have your rant to do with this? Nothing? Exactly.
People can (and do) deploy hidden cameras in conjunction with home security systems, for the purpose of identifying burglars or home invaders. A homeowner could reasonably claim that the cameras are only activated when the property is vacant. Considering that the value proposition of Air BnB is to facilitate absentee landlords, such property owners have a reasonable use case for cameras: to inspect the property via remote control after tenants leave, to see if the housekeeping service is doing their job. If the cameras are not actually running while tenants are present, there is no need to disclose their presence.
Hypothetically, if I owned a home in some far away place and wanted to rent it out via Air BnB, I would (at a minimum) have some sort of home security system to protect the property during weeks when it might be vacant. If someone wants to rent it and they ask me if the property is ready for visitors, I might want a camera system to help determine the status of the house. If I pay a service provider for maintenance or cleanup, I'm going to want some verification that they showed up and did the work. Cameras can do all of that, using nothing more than hardware already present for the security system.
Is there room for abuse? Absolutely. Bad landlords could hide under the skirt of reasonable use cases, and run the cameras 24x7. Even worse, the government really wants you to begrudgingly accept THEIR 24x7 cameras, so they are unlikely to provide meaningful protection from private cameras. Although Air BnB says disparaging things about hidden cameras, they don't want to lose their base of absentee landlords either. You can't have it both ways. The cameras are winning this battle, using expedience as a shield against privacy rights.
If you're really worried, get a decent RF detector (around $100 or so). They work like those bug detectors in the movies, you sweep the room with them to find sources of RF in certain bands. Also, some cameras (pocket photo cams or smart phone cameras) are sensitive to IR, you can test that with a TV remote. If you have such a camera, turn off the lights and use it to find IR sources.
Lastly, most consumer grade hidden cameras are in the form of motion detectors or smoke detectors. Or nanny cams in pluche toys. A closer look at one of these will quickly reveal the fact that it's a camera.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
...I lived in a 3 room rental area in a house with no keys to my rooms for 3 years, I had this weird feeling that the guy who rented it to me kinda stole my stuff.
I got so paranoid on the 3rd year, that I decided to purchase an ip camera (a camera that can send mpg. files to my mail address without a computer connected to the camera, in other words...totally independent of my computer). I set it up, and no longer than half a day during a sunday, it actually captured the guy in action. When I was out of my "rented rooms", he was there prowling my private premises. he was doing something funky to my clothes, I couldn't quite figure out what it was, but he kept running for the window to see if I was on my way home, and back to my closets just to continue his business over and over again. I got these mails at work (with mpg4 files 10 seconds worth each), unfortunately a lot of them was sent to me due to light changes in the room ...like the clouds passing by etc, but I quickly found a way to search the image files for file-size changes as the files would pretty much stay the same size if nothing changed but colors, but when there was detail change in the images - the files would get considerably bigger.
Lo and behold...he was there - rummaging trough my stuff.
So yes, you can't trust people - you really can't! this isn't just one off, I've had 3 cases like this, all with their own weird fetishes. :/
What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.