A new CNN report finds that Airbnb is receiving thousands of complaints a year about creepy hosts using security cameras to record their guests' intimate moments, and the company has allowed sex offenders to keep hosting, or even become “Superhosts.”
Even though the short-term home rental company Airbnb is now somewhat regulated, in San Francisco at least, there are still some odd things that happen at Airbnbs: guests shooting porn or running brothels in rented homes, pets being stolen, and of course the unsanctioned guest parties that have sometimes ended in violence. But a new CNN report explores the clearly undercovered issue of hosts secretly recording their Airbnb guests, sometimes in showers or other parts of the home where the guests may be undressed.
Airbnb has seemingly swept this issue under the rug, but CNN dug into a court case where Airbnb admitted in testimony that they’ve had 35,000 customer support tickets over a ten-year span of guests complaining of being surreptitiously recorded in private areas. Moreover, their host-verification process often fails to identify that the hosts are sex offenders, and in one case a host was a registered sex offender with 11 sexual assault charges.
“This is not my Social Security number or my email address. This is my naked body,” one woman told CNN, after discovering her host had secretly recorded her and her husband having sex.
This creepy behavior was referenced in the above Saturday Night Live skit from March. Airbnb did change their rules to ban indoor security cameras in rented units, effective April 1 of this year. The problem is that there’s no enforcement mechanism, nor any real penalty, and Airbnb terms of use force any complaints into arbitration, shielding the platform from any responsibility.
And Airbnb does not contact law enforcement in cases where it appears the host is intentionally recording voyeur videos.
“You can have all these great rules, but if no one’s checking that the rules are being followed … it’s still kind of the Wild West,” attorney Bianca Zuniga-Goldwater told the network, commenting on her numerous cases against Airbnb and VRBO for clandestine recording.
CNN explores the case of a host named A. Jay Allee, who had achieved “Superhost” status on the platform. A couple checked into his Texas property, and discovered a hidden camera pointed at their bed. Airbnb simply told the couple they would get his side of the story, and did not contact law enforcement.
The couple did contact law enforcement. A police raid on Allee’s home found he had stored images of “more than 30 victims, including several children,” per CNN. Many of the guests were photographed in various states of undress, or having sex.
The Kendall County Sheriff’s Office arrested Allee and charged him with 15 counts of invasive visual recording, and he pled guilty to nearly half of them. But that sheriff’s office says they notified Airbnb of the situation, and Allee’s listing remained on the platform for months.
“It’s bad for business for them to follow regulations,” nonprofit watchdog group Inside Airbnb co-founder Murray Cox told CNN. “It’s about corporate greed.”
The full report will be on CNN’s AC360 Tuesday night at 5 pm PT.
Related: Another Airbnb House Party Leads to Another Deadly Shooting, This Time In Sunnyvale [SFist]
Image: CCTV camera is installed inside the building on the ceiling and wall for monitoring and running safety system control in that area. (Getty Images)
