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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]
(Score: 4, Informative) by sjames on Sunday April 14 2019, @09:29PM (2 children)
If the camera was simply for protection of property, why wasn't it disclosed and why was it disguised? Notably, Airbnb's terms of service require disclosure of any camera even if turned off, and require that it not be disguised.
If the camera was disclosed and the house was sub-divided into multiple rentals with the living room as a common area, it might fly (as long as the guests knew that when they reserved the rental), otherwise the whole house is most reasonably treated as private rented space much like a suite in a hotel.
It's worth noting that some families don't restrict nudity to the bathroom and bedroom. In such a case, depending on the country, the home owner could face some really serious criminal charges if the camera is discovered part way through the stay.
(Score: 2) by epitaxial on Monday April 15 2019, @12:53AM (1 child)
If they told people about the camera people would just cover it with something.
(Score: 4, Touché) by sjames on Monday April 15 2019, @01:53AM
If they don't want to abide by the terms of service, common decency, and in many places the law, perhaps they shouldn't rent their place out through Airbnb.