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Family Finds Hidden Camera in Airbnb's Smoke Alarm

posted by Fnord666 on Sunday April 14 2019, @07:36PM   Printer-friendly
from the big-issue dept.

realDonaldTrump writes:

family-finds-hidden-camera-in-airbnb-smoke-alarm

A New Zealand family was shocked to find a camera hidden in the smoke alarm of their Airbnb during a vacation in Ireland, which the father of the clan discovered as he was connecting his cell phone to the Wi-Fi.

[...] "He scanned that device's ports and found the live video feed. We were all watching ourselves on his mobile phone," Barker said of the horrifying find. The camera offered a view of the living room, dining and kitchen area.

Related:
How to Scan Your Airbnb for Hidden Cameras
Should we be searching for hidden spy cameras in Airbnbs and hotels?

[This seems to be an ongoing issue for Airbnb. Have other Soylentils used the platform, and if so have you found hidden monitoring devices? - Ed]

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Sunday April 14 2019, @08:48PM (3 children)

    by maxwell demon (1608) on Sunday April 14 2019, @08:48PM (#829482) Journal

    Plus, do you really think hotels don't have cameras in hallways, lobbies, and other non-bedroom non-bathroom locations?

    Hallways and lobbies are places where you don't have any privacy expectations. Also, I'd expect the hotel to be open about the existence of such cameras.

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 14 2019, @09:27PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 14 2019, @09:27PM (#829485)

    On the other hand how often do you think they check their hotel rooms really? If I installed a camera in a smoke detector or vent in a hotel room I'm fairly sure it would actually be there for quite a while.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Sunday April 14 2019, @09:38PM (1 child)

    by Thexalon (636) on Sunday April 14 2019, @09:38PM (#829489)

    On the other hand, if you rent an AirBnB, what exactly is your expectation of privacy? And is it different from being in a buddy's home hanging out while your buddy is making a beer run?

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.

    • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Monday April 15 2019, @06:19AM

      by maxwell demon (1608) on Monday April 15 2019, @06:19AM (#829700) Journal

      On the other hand, if you rent an AirBnB, what exactly is your expectation of privacy?

      I expect them to adhere to the law and to the terms of service of AirBnB.

      And is it different from being in a buddy's home hanging out while your buddy is making a beer run?

      I don't know about your buddies, but I would indeed expect mine to not spy on me. And if I learned they did, they'd no longer be my buddies.

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.