Airbnbs May Be Watching You

Airbnb has revolutionized the travel and lodging industry. For those unaware, the company acts as a clearinghouse for those who own properties to rent out their properties to travelers as hotel rooms. So, a traveler staying at an Airbnb would get the benefit of living in an actual home during their vacation or travels. The property owner gets the benefit of income from whatever the traveler is paying.

Are They Watching?

But recent articles have exposed a hidden and disturbing fact about some of the Airbnb properties: the people who have stayed in them (renting them out) may have been watched by video surveillance, without them knowing or agreeing. And some of those videos may have captured those people in their most private and vulnerable moments.

Airbnb acts as a clearinghouse for people to put their properties on the market for rental, but there is a legal issue as to how much control Airbnb has over the properties, and thus, how much liability Airbnb should have when property owners do things that harm, injure, or embarrass visitors and renters.

Renters Allege They Were Spied On

This has now come to light, given that cameras hidden in the rental properties have been discovered, disguised in things like clocks and houseplants and smoke detectors. These cameras in many cases provided the property owners livestream videos of what was going on inside of the property.

Airbnb has, in news reports, admitted that it knows of the practice. In fact, according to testimony under oath by a representative of the company, the company had 30,000 complaints from renters about cameras found in the properties. But investigations also show that when Airbnb does learn of an active, hidden camera in a property, it does little about it—and they do not contact law enforcement.

Airbnb, according to news reports, doesn’t report this information because it does not want to deter renters from renting Airbnb properties, and it doesn’t want to discourage people from putting their properties up for rent with Airbnb.

And Airbnb contends that it is only a “clearinghouse” for the properties but has no control or authority or responsibility for whatever happens in the homes, or whatever the property owner decides to do—including install live cameras.

Airbnb goes further insulating itself from liability, having renters sign hold harmless agreements, or otherwise, arbitration agreements, which take cases against Airbnb out of a court and away from a jury.

Suing for Invasion of Privacy

Although not a physical injury, people who are recorded, in private places, without their knowledge or permission, can sue for invasion of privacy.

The trauma, embarrassment and humiliation, of having private, intimate, or personal moments captured on camera, without knowledge or permission, can give rise to claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress—even without an actual, physical injury.

An invasion of privacy is an injury that a jury can compensate you for suffering. Contact our Rhode Island personal injury lawyers at Robert E. Craven & Associates at 401-453-2700 today.

Sources:

cnn.com/2024/07/09/business/video/airbnb-hidden-cameras-investigation-digvid

skift.com/2024/07/10/airbnb-works-to-keep-indoor-security-camera-complaints-hidden-cnn-investigation/