Yves here. We received a complaint about AirBnB’s latest privacy intrusion from a long-established reader, here on demanding what will wind up being in most if not nearly all cases, a copy of a photo that is of biometric ID standards. As the unhappy potentially former customer of AirBnB fulminates, this new policy is being applied across the board, even users with impeccable records.
And that ire is not ill-founded. AirBnB is being challenged over this new scheme in Illinois under the state law that puts strict limits on private businesses who try to collecting biometric information. As we’ll discuss, Illinois is far from the only state with privacy laws that restrict the collection and use of biometric information.
And it is not as if AirBnB is lacking in methods of recourse. Hotels regularly charge bad boy guests who trash rooms via damage charges on credit cards. If they are worried a newbie user might be a rogue, require that the user agree to a damage deposit that is refunded if everything is hunky dory. If property misuse were the issue, face pix of users are not much of a solution.
So more generally, why could AirBnB possibly want this info? This sounds an awful like yet another scheme to make more money off customers by selling their data. Many people became desensitized over the issue of letting businesses copy their driver’s licenses or passports in the post 9/11 era, where most office building landlords started new security procedures requiring the presentation, and sometimes copying, of government ID.
The latest AirBnB lack of concern about user privacy has started even before the rental platform recent snooping scandal was finally resolved. Readers may recall AirBnB was embarrassed publicly by Gizmodo via FOIAs to the Federal Trade Commission. Gizmodo published many of the complaints. AirBnB had a not-so-hot policy on cameras and was lax about enforcement and apparently even responding to customer beefs. So the secret camera ban went effective April 30. From Gizmodo yesterday:
Gizmodo filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the FTC for any consumer complaints filed about Airbnb that involved cameras. Some of the complaints are fairly mundane, and simply mention how cameras may have been used to prove things that break the rules at Airbnb properties. But others are pretty horrifying and involve hidden cameras in places where people expect privacy….
Hidden cameras have always been banned at Airbnb, but cameras in public areas like living rooms were allowed. Airbnb will officially ban all indoor cameras at its properties worldwide at the end of this month.
Erm, since when is a living room a public place? Plenty of people shag on couches or might be in a state of considerable undress while watching TV. Admittedly, the old policy said those cameras were OK if not hidden. But how hidden is hidden? Not hard to imagine vacationers doing something they would not want recorded before they noticed a camera.
Now to AirBnB’s new-found photo fetish. A point that may not be obvious is that in the US, most if not all driver’s license photos are to biometric ID standards. Alabama was as of 2019 when I got a driver’s license there. Ditto passport photos. So unless you have an old passport image before the days of biometric IDs being the new normal, and it luckily also fail to capture good enough information to provide the biometric markers, compliance with AirBnB’s new requirements amounts to giving them biometrics. Gah.
We’ll turn to the reader-provided sordid tale and then look at current and possible future legal opposition. Via e-mail:
I have an idiotic saga about Airbnb, which I have used for years as a traveler. I would never host through them because their customer service is atrocious, and I have heard stories from friends who host about what goes on. They were a train wreck during the covid pandemic. But I use it in the US and abroad.
So without warning Airbnb suddenly is demanding identity verification and the site wants me to upload a drivers license or passport before I am allowed to reserve. This makes me irate, of course. They want to use facial recognition to “confirm” with the photo they already have, no doubt AI enhanced at this point. I am not the criminal here, and they have a long internal track record with my profile on reviews and trips and credit card transactions. I have absolutely stellar reviews. A reservation was pending, then canceled. So I took masking tape and doctored my license to cover up certain info, they want both sides, and took photos and uploaded them. I resubmitted the reservation and uploaded the ID photos for it to be finalized (the website doesn’t allow you to advance until you take this step). The reservation goes through, is confirmed, I get inundated with the usual messages confirming the reservation. This means my credit card is charged the full amount, you see. Then my ID photos are rejected again. I call customer non-service, which at this point is located abroad, probably in the Philippines for my call (it used to be in San Francisco). I am exhorted to resubmit ID photos with complete information. I argue, it’s useless, she has no authority even after putting me on hold to speak with a supervisor. They are relying on the Airbnb “system” to verify and retain all this customer data. I rip apart the routine customer service script that my data are protected.
My reservation is still valid atm, so I am going to see what happens next time I use the site – if it requires me to “upload photos of an ID” again, recto and verso, I can upload the same doctored photos and see if the reservation goes through, even if the ID photos are subsequently rejected every time. I think they like that money that keeps coming in, the fees. I don’t care if that becomes the new ritual – this is ASININE. I am still irate.
The entire fiasco illustrates where we are heading. Also, Homeland Security has become an evil monster.
So does AirBnB really want the photo or the full driver’s license/passport page? It sure sounds like the latter, given the friend of the site’s clarification of what “doctoring” amounted to:
I used bits of masking tape artfully applied to both sides of the license itself before taking the photos of it. The Airbnb system might detect Photoshop manipulation – someone expert in such matters would know better than I. I did two rounds of doctoring, taking the photos, and uploading them to Airbnb. The photos were deliberately not in ideal lighting, not too close up. One was upside down (that was just me not taking it seriously). All were rejected by the automated system, and if I look at my account profile, the section on government ID says not provided (as if that were an inherent obligation, to which my response is that they can stuff it). There is an option of uploading an identity card, but I did not pursue that, although maybe I will at some point, if I can get away with a photo ID card from work or something. I want to stress that this was not successful in the sense that the Airbnb system did not accept my ID photos because info was missing and it was not recognized as satisfactory. According to the autogenerated message I received from Airbnb, it wants to read and extract all info on the card and could not. I am sure they have many images of licenses from all fifty states, as well as passports. Ah, surveillance dystopia!….
I should have saved the Airbnb message to forward to you. It definitely referred to wanting the *information* on the ID image, which includes the biometric details, date of birth, address, etc., as well as photos, and requiring both sides of the license.
So asking for a photo from a “government ID” is to get the entire ID, not just the image.
So it is telling that even with this policy being pretty new, privacy lawyers have swung into action. They have started with Illinois, which has the oldest state law restricting the use of biometric information, dating from 2008. Bloomberg Law describes how several lawsuits have raised the profile of this statue and the rulings have facilitated filing more cases.
The 2023 Bloomberg article also describes the state of play in other states:
Texas and Washington also have broad biometric privacy laws on the books, but neither creates a private right of action like BIPA does. In addition, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, and Virginia have passed comprehensive consumer privacy laws that, once in full effect, will expressly govern the processing of biometric information. And even more states have enacted data breach notification laws that explicitly include biometric data within their scope.
Various municipalities, such as New York City and Portland, Ore., have also passed tailored biometric privacy measures. New York City’s Biometric Information Privacy Law, applicable to certain commercial establishments, provides a private right of action.
As more states continue to introduce legislation similar to BIPA, insurers have begun expressly excluding biometric liability coverage from their policies, further adding to the risks posed by noncompliance with biometric privacy laws.
And provided a detailed summary of three of the statutes:
If you read the Bloomberg cheat sheet on the Illinois law, you will see it provides for “Intentional or reckless violations: the greater of $5,000 or actual damages.”
The interesting device of “mass arbitration” has AirBnB users in Illinois seeking $5,000 for what sure looks like an intentional violation. From ClassAction.org:
Attorneys working with ClassAction.org need to hear from Illinois residents who used Airbnb as either a guest or a host and had to go through the vacation rental company’s identity verification process.
They have reason to believe the company may have illegally collected and stored the facial scans of Illinois users who were required to upload their photos and government-issued IDs to confirm their identities.
Illegal collection of consumers’ biometrics – which include facial geometries, fingerprints, retina scans and more – could require the offending company to provide consumers with up to $5,000 per violation.
What Am I Signing Up For? What Is Mass Arbitration?
You are signing up for something known in the legal space as mass arbitration. Generally speaking, arbitration is an alternative way to resolve a dispute and takes place outside the courtroom, without a judge, jury or trial. You can learn more about arbitration here.
With mass arbitration, hundreds or thousands of consumers will file individual arbitration claims against the same company over the same issue – such as a potential privacy violation.
While Airbnb has previously faced litigation for various reasons, the company’s terms of service clearly state that U.S. users agree to resolve disputes through arbitration and waive their rights to a class action lawsuit. This is why attorneys working with ClassAction.org have decided to handle this matter on a mass arbitration basis.
Not only is this going to be fun, but AirBnB’s high profile might also give impetus for states and cities to implement or strengthen biometric ID protections.
Well, this is unfortunate. I have been relying on Airbnb for travel since COVID-19 started, since it gives more control over air quality and kitchen access. I admit this makes me leary but on the other hand, my biometric data is probably already compromised multiple times so not sure it really matters so much.
Really need to just go and buy that conversion van. Or move to a country that actually protects its citizens… maybe Iran or DPRK…
Perhaps you could try VRBO instead. I have used them for many years and have never had a bad experience. Their listings are accurate and many hosts list rental properties on both AirBnB and VRBO. All VRBO asks from you is a credit card. No ID at all.
More frog boiling. There are no laws, it s whatever they can get away with until the lawyers make their cut, and even after that it will be written off as a small price to doing business and passed on the the half dead frogs. USA!
Why use Airbnb at all?
To book a place for my recent vacation, I looked up “where to stay in x”, found a list of people who rented rooms or houses, emailed one of them directly after getting the address from their personal website, reserved the place with no deposit, no credit card, and paid in full in cash when I arrived per the host’s request. The host also recommended a car rental for us, which I also paid for in cash on arrival. None of this was the least bit difficult.
Only time I was scanned was at the [family blog]ing US airport, where they used retina scans to “speed up the boarding process” or some such lie.
You should have refused the retina scan. It’s not TSA/DHS and can’t be enforced. It’s a new abuse by airlines.
I had one US airline try to photograph me at boarding on an international flight. Everyone else sheep-like consented. I said no and covered my face. They let me through, no delay to argue with me.
They rely on no one refusing. It’s called the power of group assent. Dangerous stuff. Used very effectively by cults and other brainwashers.
Thank you. It was the first time I ran into it since I don’t fly much, and I really wasn’t sure whether I could refuse or not. It was just presented as a given and no one else said a word – relying on group assent as you noted.
There was also the surly teenager factor – had I complained, my young fellow traveler would have melted into the wall with embarrassment. If the authorities really want to enforce group assent, they could just require everyone to travel with a teenager afraid of not fitting in.
Kidding aside, next time I see one of these scanners I will be sure to refuse.
The group assent was voluntarily handed over to the data abusers such as the main actor of this report, over the last 10-15 years. Everybody under the Sun surrendered their low hanging fruit data without a whim.
Now that the data abusers are strengthened and empowered by all this endless initial data they got for free, they can afford to enforce collection of the further datasets up the food chain, easily.
It’s not like anyone is going to say to AirBnb and similar ilk, well, I won’t give you my retina and my fingerprints, and if you don’t like my answer, give me back all the data about my life and my family and friends lives, that I, the schmuck, gave you for free already.
No, the next step is, you won’t surrender your retina image?, okay, you can’t board this flight/bus/train. Surrender the keys to your car and your house. I have a gun and a taser.
Your comment is completely out of line and false. The reader who provided the AirBnB story did not hand it over voluntarily. As for getting on planes, the airlines cleverly cow passengers by having the facial photographing right by where they scan your boarding pass, to make it seem as if it is the same sort of requirement. And group assent IS real, don’t act as if it is not a major way to get people to go along.
And in fact on international flights, in many countries, the airline staff make you produce your passport and looks at it to see if you look like the person in the passport, even if you are transiting through an intermediate airport. That does not involve permanent data retention but has again conditioned people to accept a check as part of the process.
The only data gathering that is legally authorized is at immigration and the TSA checkpoint. Why don’t you educate people rather than shooing messengers?
For a business flight from Atlanta to Chicago, TSA wouldn’t let me through when I objected to the photo. I stood around for about 10 minutes, hoping they would give in, but they didn’t. Eventually, I let them take my photo but I turned my head at an angle and made an odd looking face with my eyes squinted and mouth to the side. That was the best that I could do under the circumstances. Like many of these issues, it will take lawsuits to overturn, which takes a non-trivial amount of time and depends on a justice system that functions properly.
All across the country, cities are realizing that the tax revenue from AirBnB et al isn’t worth the loss of community, and i’m thinking that the short term rental game is only a tragedy or scandal away from going away.
It very much helped keep housing bubble version 2.0 going, and very well could lead to its downfall, as it didn’t exist in housing bubble numero uno.
Yeah, it’s really a moral obscenity to take housing stock away from people who need it for places that get rented maybe 100 days a year. Before COVID-19 I was mostly renting granny flats, basements, and single rooms, so it didn’t seem like it would affect the housing stock much and I was putting money in the pockets of people that I was actually staying with. It was a really nice and cheap way to travel to expensive places like Hawaii on a budget and a nice host can really brighten up a stay (in the early days a lot of the hosts put up Airbnb for travel money, so I stayed with lots of nice people who were genuinely not in it for the money).
But after Covid, I had to stick to mostly apartments and whole house rentals, so the stays were impersonal and less enjoyable, even though I was staying at objectively much nicer places. Seriously thinking about getting a conversion van for travel.
>it’s really a moral obscenity to take housing stock away from people who need it for places that get rented maybe 100 days a year.
Given that logic, is everything that takes away housing stock immoral? Hotels, vacant land, houses built on excess land, parks, Office buildings, museums etc.
I suppose the counter would be that businesses serving their fellow citizens are not immoral. Then, it becomes a little arbitrary as to how local the citizens served need to be. AirBNB is, after all, just a business serving fellow citizens, albeit not ones in the local community.
It is immoral in the sense that it takes away housing that had been used as full time housing, reducing the effective vacancy rate, which drives up housing costs for everyone, increasing the homeless population.
If it is some granny making some money on an empty room is also different than an owner or property company making money on a string of such rentals. The former is probably making necessary money on an unused space while the latter is profiteering from taking full time housing off the market already overpriced and in short supply.
>it is immoral in the sense that it takes away housing that *had* been used as full time housing
So a new build being AirBNB’d wouldn’t be immoral? Too me it’s the exact same scenario and it doesn’t make any sense to place an emphasis on the prior use case, but we can agree to disagree
We have a number of new smaller builds here in Tiny Town specifically for short term rentals, which would never have been built if it weren’t for AirBnB and it’s ilk and should be ideal reasonably priced abodes for long term single person rentals or purchases when the AirBnB model goes away.
They’ll fit in nicely with similar buildings leftover from when the Hare Krishna had a boarding school here in the 70’s called a gurukula.
We have a big fat Greek restaurant (with seating for 200 in town of 1,500 fulltime residents!) opening up in theory in August, but i’m guessing really August of 2025 instead.
He’ll be counting on the AirBnB’s & tourists heading up to Sequoia NP to come through and fill up the seats, and generally when its a hundred and hell in the summer months when everybody is visiting, most tourists keep on driving up to the park.
It is immoral if it’s disproportionately taking available housing away from needy people and jacking up housing price for everyone. Yes, NIMBYISMn and SFH zoning can also result in inadequate housing, but at least that’s not actively taking housing from people. Given how being unhoused can cause a cascade of issues for people, it does feel immoral to participate.
Before covid, housing availability wasn’t as big of a deal and I was comfortable mostly staying in people’s guest rooms, so I wasn’t taking housing from others. These days I feel much more conflicted because Airbnb has the most accessible listings of single unit housing where I’m sure that I’m not sharing air with a stranger and can get a decent kitchen to cook in.
So I keep booking through the app, though I will also be okay if this while ‘industry’ goes away. Maybe I’ll travel exclusively by conversion van.
I can appreciate your point about active (vs passive?) actions affecting housing supply.
That said, I think NIMBY/zoning restrictions result in overall more harm/expensive housing for everyone. I try to avoid judging the morality of others, but to be – NIMBYism is generally more reprehensible.
Fair enough, they are bigger concerns over the longer time horizon and contribute to the lack of affordable and walkable housing.
The last 7 months just made me realize that everything around us is broken and need to be completely remade. I am at a point where I don’t think anyone (actual or corporate person) is entitled to own a house or land. They can rent one house or apartment that they live in from the government, for an amount roughly equal to the current property tax valuation plus a small amount to support building and maintaining adequate housing stock.
If you move, you give up the lease and someone else takes it over. Children gets first dibs on the lease provided that they lived in the house at some point in their life.
But….We’re sharing! Remember that? House sharing, like ride sharing.
No idea why anyone sees airbnb as easier or cheaper. It’s neither, and now even more onerous.
Is the collection of data more about cataloging critics to enable their abuse? Uber did that too. They all follow the same playbook.
There is no upside to any of this. None of it. And on top of that, they are enabling the worst people on earth, people who don’t even want the responsibility of being a landlord, to be rentiers.
Stop using these things!
If you have children and do not want to sleep in the same room as them it’s notably cheaper to book an AirBNB house with multiple bedrooms rather then booking multiple hotel rooms.
There was couchsurfing before AirBnb and I guess there will be afterwards
I’ve heard this asserted before. I never have seen it backed up with numbers. Go ahead and note the actual costs. As often as I’ve heard this, I’ve heard more about Airbnb “prices” that don’t reflect the actual prices people have to pay to Airbnb.