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Airbnb is Suing NYC to Keep From Sharing Host Data

posted by martyb on Tuesday August 28 2018, @05:27AM   Printer-friendly
from the You-reported-that-as-income,-right? dept.

MrPlow writes in with a story submitted (via IRC) for SoyCow1984:

In a role-reversal, Airbnb is the one suing a city, and it's doing so to protect its hosts' privacy. In July, the New York City Council passed a regulation forcing short-term rental services to hand over hosts' names and addresses every month to help a civic crackdown on illegal listings. Airbnb's lawsuit against NYC alleges that the new law violates its users' constitutional rights.

Obviously, Airbnb has some skin in the game. When San Francisco implemented a similar regulation earlier this year, listings for the rental company fell by half. Airbnb sued the west coast city, and a settlement required the company to register its hosts before they're allowed to post listings, which is intended to reduce illegal housing situations. It's possible that Airbnb is aiming for a similar compromise here. Their legal filing (PDF) nevertheless attacks the NYC law's permissions and motivations, portraying it as "an extraordinary act of government overreach."

Source: https://www.engadget.com/2018/08/25/airbnb-sues-nyc-avoid-sharing-host-data/

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  • (Score: 4, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 28 2018, @10:17AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 28 2018, @10:17AM (#727273)

    Nasty city! Not fair! Waaah!

    Er, real hotels don't have any problem with having to be registered. Because if they weren't, then any d*ckhead could pretend to be a hotel...

    .. which is in fact Airbnb's entire business model, isn't it...

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 28 2018, @05:34PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 28 2018, @05:34PM (#727431)

    Why is it that we don't want people to "pretend" to be hotels?

    Just asking.

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 28 2018, @05:53PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 28 2018, @05:53PM (#727441)

      Probably regulation requirements, zoning, safety.

      It may not seem like a big deal, but just wait until you live next to one and a couple nights a month some assholes go for a rager on the town and bring the party back to their place. In the middle of your usually nice and quiet neighborhood. Also probably less available parking since usually you get multiple guests to a rental to split costs.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 28 2018, @05:54PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 28 2018, @05:54PM (#727442)

      Hotels are required to meet certain criteria, including insurance, inspections and collecting hotel-specific taxes. These AirBnB operators may not be reporting the apartment properly (the city needs to know how many units are available for rent), let alone paying taxes on the income.

      Also, the more AirBnB apartments that are off the market the higher the rents for available apartments (supply and demand).