People who use Airbnb can tell you that there are two kinds of experiences: pleasant and uneventful, and so terrifying that they could be the grounds for a horror movie about the perils of modern-day conveniences. Just in the last year we’ve heard of people’s apartments being turned into XXX orgies, neighbors calling the police on guests due to their race, and people’s AC vents being vomited into by “temporary roomies” who partied just a little too hard while they were visiting. This week, however, a German woman is suing the company for allowing her to stay in an apartment in which she was illegally videotaped during her stay two years ago.
Mashable reports that the woman, Edith Schumacher, was staying in a home in Irvine, California, when she discovered that the owners had placed a hidden camera underneath some candles in the rental. Not only is recording someone without their permission illegal in California (noted!), but Schumacher had rented the the home for a month and could have been taped the entire time. Fortunately, her partner found the camera on the third day they were there. What was the camera picking up? It could have been videos of Schumacher naked — she sleeps in the nude — and private conversations of a sensitive nature. From Mashable:
Schumacher’s attorney says Schumacher fears any footage of her nude may make its way online — and that the owners of the unit may have been able to listen in to private conversations. Schumacher has filed lawsuits against Airbnb alleging negligence and against the owners of the rental, Fariah Hassim and Jamil Jiva, for invasion of privacy and emotional distress.
Airbnb states they’re taking the complaint very seriously. While they don’t comment on ongoing litigation, they wanted to assure both Schumacher and anyone hearing about this story that privacy is on the top of their list of concerns and they even warn homeowners not to use surveillance equipment because it might be illegal in their state and certainly not to do it without letting the tenant know it’s there. Would that defeat the purpose of the cameras? Probably. But that’s the risk you take when you rent out your home via a website.
Fusion points out that the statement regarding surveillance equipment wasn’t posted to the rental site until a year after Schumacher’s complaint–when it should have been up before–and that Schumacher’s suing both the owners of the home and Airbnb because they allowed the landlords to continue renting their place out despite a stated “zero-tolerance” policy against this type of privacy invasion.
Aside from invasion of privacy, Schumacher is also suing for emotional distress, due not only to the humiliation of being secretly videotaped, but because she doesn’t know if any nude images the owners might have captured may one day make it online. Not to mention the conversations that the couple may have had. If you’ve ever worried that a talk you had with your partner about your friends, job, or loved ones might make it back to them, you may also be feeling a trickle of cold dread run down your spine. What a time to be alive, right?
(Via Mashable, h/t Fusion)
