SoylentNews

Airbnb followed the trend of numerous internet-related and IT companies by locating a major executive presence in Dublin, Ireland. Here, Airbnb has located its European HQ. This comes on the back of considerable proliferation of Irish based ‘Airbnb hosts’. Anecdotal evidence suggests a huge cross section of socio-economic groups taking the decision to become such hosts and, though not necessarily following, there would seem to be an array of standards on offer to the discerning ‘guest’. For some hosts this would seem to be a lifeline, for others an entertaining frivolity to bolster pocket money…

…Airbnb having profited nicely by taking the position of middle man in all this are now, like a sleeping cow being tipped, willing to play dead and sing like the proverbial parrot [irishtimes.com] regarding the private data of hosts. This would seem to fly in the face of combative stances taken by companies such as Microsoft and Google, having similar status in Ireland, in recent times.

Where does this sit on the Uber/big-data/privacy/capitalism/tax haven/governance spectrum?

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