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Airbnb Guest Found Hidden Surveillance Camera By Scanning Wi-Fi Network (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: A New Zealand family that booked an Airbnb in Ireland recently discovered an undisclosed camera in the living room, and the family says that Airbnb initially cleared the host of any wrongdoing before finally banning the offender from its platform. "Once the family had unpacked, Andrew Barker, who works in IT security, scanned the house's Wi-Fi network," CNN reported today. "The scan unearthed a camera and subsequently a live feed. From the angle of the video, the family tracked down the camera, concealed in what appeared to be a smoke alarm or carbon monoxide detector." Nealie Barker posted an image on Facebook showing the location of the camera in the living room and a shot of the family from the sneaky video feed.
Based on the photo, the video of the Barkers seems to have been taken on March 3 and was viewable on the local Wi-Fi network at 192.168.0.4/video/livemb.asp. The family relocated to a hotel and contacted both Airbnb and the property host. The host initially hung up but later called back and told them, "The camera in the living room was the only one in the house," CNN wrote. It's not clear whether the host was recording the video, whether he was capturing audio, whether he was monitoring it remotely in real time, or whether he was using it for anything more than monitoring guests. [...] Airbnb temporarily suspended the listing and promised to investigate, CNN wrote. But when Barker contacted Airbnb again two weeks later, "the company told her that the host had been 'exonerated,' and the listing reinstated." Airbnb finally banned the host after Nealie Barker posted about the disturbing incident on Facebook on Monday this week. Barker's Facebook post said that Airbnb's "investigation which didn't include any follow-up with us exonerated the host, no explanation provided," and that "the listing (with hidden camera not mentioned) is still on Airbnb." Airbnb said in a statement to Ars Technica: "Our original handling of this incident did not meet the high standards we set for ourselves, and we have apologized to the family and fully refunded their stay."
Airbnb's policy states that hosts must disclose "any type of surveillance device" in listings, "even if it's not turned on or hooked up." Cameras are allowed in certain spaces if they are disclosed, but Airbnb "prohibit[s] any surveillance devices that are in or that observe the interior of certain private spaces (such as bedrooms and bathrooms) regardless of whether they've been disclosed. [...] If a host discloses the device after booking, Airbnb will allow the guest to cancel the reservation and receive a refund. Host cancellation penalties may apply."
Based on the photo, the video of the Barkers seems to have been taken on March 3 and was viewable on the local Wi-Fi network at 192.168.0.4/video/livemb.asp. The family relocated to a hotel and contacted both Airbnb and the property host. The host initially hung up but later called back and told them, "The camera in the living room was the only one in the house," CNN wrote. It's not clear whether the host was recording the video, whether he was capturing audio, whether he was monitoring it remotely in real time, or whether he was using it for anything more than monitoring guests. [...] Airbnb temporarily suspended the listing and promised to investigate, CNN wrote. But when Barker contacted Airbnb again two weeks later, "the company told her that the host had been 'exonerated,' and the listing reinstated." Airbnb finally banned the host after Nealie Barker posted about the disturbing incident on Facebook on Monday this week. Barker's Facebook post said that Airbnb's "investigation which didn't include any follow-up with us exonerated the host, no explanation provided," and that "the listing (with hidden camera not mentioned) is still on Airbnb." Airbnb said in a statement to Ars Technica: "Our original handling of this incident did not meet the high standards we set for ourselves, and we have apologized to the family and fully refunded their stay."
Airbnb's policy states that hosts must disclose "any type of surveillance device" in listings, "even if it's not turned on or hooked up." Cameras are allowed in certain spaces if they are disclosed, but Airbnb "prohibit[s] any surveillance devices that are in or that observe the interior of certain private spaces (such as bedrooms and bathrooms) regardless of whether they've been disclosed. [...] If a host discloses the device after booking, Airbnb will allow the guest to cancel the reservation and receive a refund. Host cancellation penalties may apply."
When "hosts" leave a bunch of valuable stuff around for their "guests" it's little wonder they care more about protecting their crap than the privacy of the guests.
Stop renting out space that has your stuff in it.
Nothing of value should be in the property, everything should be documented and have proper insurance.
Work Safe Porn
Homeowners probably read this article or any number of equally disturbing disaster rentals.
Googling "AirBnB renters trash house" gets similar results as typing in "Florida Man" and a random date.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
Homeowners naturally would like to keep tabs on who does what in their home-for-let. Apparently, it's fine so long as they follow some rules. The homeowner did not, maybe didn't know the rules or misunderstood the requirement. So the handling was probably okay. A rules violation.
Further, I don't see that camera being "sneaky". That's a real CC camera, they are all over the place in buildings and public places. Doesn't look like anything except exactly what it is.
However we hear reports out of Korea where they have hidden cameras in lavatories looking like soap dispensers, and there is apparently a cottage industry of providers of hidden camera streams and up-skirt videos. That is obviously shady, no two ways about it. The current case, not so much.
=^..^= all your rodent are belong to us
This happened in Ireland, not the US, BTW.
How Does It Work? When the power button is “pressed” on side of unit, and you look through the viewfinder, it activates six special bright-red LED strobe lights designed to bounce off the smallest of camera lenses. The tiny camera lens will appear to blink back at you as a reflection off camera lens itself , instantly giving away its location as you scan the area around you. It doesn’t matter if the camera is turned on or off, recording or not...even if its a non-working camera, the blinking effect will clearly show you the presence of a camera lens which is almost impossible to detect with the naked eye. Knowing where the camera is located will allow you to take immediate action to prevent unauthorized recording of activity. In addition, there are 3 LED intensity levels which helps hone in on camera lenses which could be hidden behind different surfaces. A flat wall 30 feet away could use the highest LED intensity, while a semi reflective shiny surface 5 feet away would use the lowest intensity. This prevents false reflections, maximizing the ability to find a hidden camera lens in any room environment.
Yup, very sad. I also blame things like the mod system. I don't quite understand why I can't mod if I post.
They should give some of us (who want to be positive and contribute) a great deal of mod power / points to quickly clean up the site.
Keep track of who mods who and what and block abusers; but otherwise clean up this site.
The creepy part is that the camera is hidden. If you want.to put it out in the open and let all your guests know you might be watching them 24x7 and you can get people to stay by all means, but if you feel you are in the right then why hide it.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
I don't quite understand why I can't mod if I post.
That is quite why enough.
I'm with you.. I've been stopping here every day for a long time. Remember when it had great stories, and relevant comments? When a link on slashdot generated so much traffic sites woud post they had the 'slashdot effect'?
Now it is just full of trolls and morons who waste so much of their own time entering the captcha just to post useless crap.
My family runs a commercial building. Despite it being our building, we're not even allowed to enter the units we rent out to our tenants unless the tenant invite us in first. When we evict someone, we have to file paperwork with the city and allow the tenant time to respond (whole process takes about 6 months). And when everything is in order, we're only allowed into our own building with a police escort.
I have security cameras around the outside for the tenants' protection since we've had a few robberies. But no way in hell would I ever get away with putting security cameras in their units, even if I first disclosed it to them. I know it's the same for hotels, and I imagine it's the same for apartment rentals. Why do homeowners running Airbnb rentals get held to a different standard?