This month, Airbnb announced that, starting April 30, the company will ban the use of surveillance cameras in its rentals. The news was welcomed by those concerned about privacy.
“Cameras are both creepy and threatening,” said Albert Fox Cahn, the executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, which has campaigned to ban cameras from Airbnbs by 2022. “People are afraid to take pictures of their privates. moments without consent and the ability for owners to monitor their activities within a rental.”
For many travelers, Airbnb’s new policy has raised some fundamental questions: What were the cameras doing there in the first place? And what are travelers’ privacy rights in hotels and vacation rentals?
Public use of cameras
Cameras, of course, are everywhere in public life, from self-service kiosks in major retailers to airport terminals.
Like other businesses, hotels and rental properties use surveillance cameras for two reasons, said Michael McCall, a Hilton Hotels Fellow at the School of Hospitality Business at Michigan State University: To protect their customers and their property.
A traveler might feel safer arriving at a hotel room or rental apartment with a security camera down a hallway, for example. And a hotel or host can use cameras to monitor property damage or theft, though the question of whether surveillance is effective in preventing crime is a long-standing debate among privacy and security advocates.
“There’s a balance between ‘How do I protect my stuff’ and at the same time not infringing on the expected privacy of the visitor,” Mr. McCall said. “Airbnb said interior is off limits.”
States differ on whether and how much consent is required for surveillance, and there are different rules for audio and video recording.
“US privacy law is fragmented at best,” Doris DelTosto Brogan, professor of law and the Heller McGuinness Endowed Chair in Leadership at Villanova University’s Charles Widger School of Law in Villanova, Penn., wrote in an email. He noted that some federal privacy laws apply to all states, but that each state can develop its own privacy laws.
Airbnb previously navigated these herds by requiring that indoor cameras in common areas, such as hallways and kitchens, be disclosed to the renter.
Starting in 2022, the short-term rental platform Vrbo has banned the use of indoor cameras except those that are disclosed to guests and can be turned off by them.
In a statement, the American Hotel and Lodging Association, which represents 80 percent of all franchised hotels in the United States, said surveillance cameras in hotels should be limited to public areas — such as lobbies and pools — for safety reasons.
“Reasonable expectation of privacy”
Although regulations vary by state, most legal protections cover non-consensual videotaping in private spaces, such as bedrooms and bathrooms.
At the federal level, the Surveillance Prevention Act of 2004 prohibits “knowingly videotaping, photographing, videotaping, recording in any way, or transmitting an image of a person’s private area, without the person’s consent, under circumstances in for which the individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy.”
Many state as well as federal laws depend on the expectation of privacy. “So that would often be, for example, a bedroom or a bathroom, but not necessarily a common space like a living room,” said Raymond Ku, the John Homer Kapp Professor of Law at Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland. Ohio.
But it’s the illegal use of hidden cameras that has shocked travelers.
Earlier this month, a Royal Caribbean cruise ship cabin attendant was arrested on federal charges of producing and possessing child sexual abuse images by installing video cameras in guest bathrooms and taking intimate images of passengers as young as 10.
In February, a man was arrested in Palm Beach County, Florida, on video surveillance charges for secretly filming 16 different people, sometimes at Airbnb locations.
In September, a 14-year-old passenger on an American Airlines plane discovered an iPhone taped to a toilet seat that her family said had been placed by a flight attendant.
Legal and security experts believe that such hacks are exceptions, given the millions of people who travel every day, but that they warrant vigilance.
“People who want to use cameras for malicious purposes are still in the game,” said Kenneth Bombace, chief executive of intelligence firm Global Threat Solutions, describing a new generation of recording devices that are small, thin and cheap.
How to find hidden cameras
In his business, Mr. Bombace uses high-tech devices to conduct searches — from hotel rooms to corporate boardrooms — for hidden recording devices.
For travelers without a high profile or celebrity, he recommends a “common sense search for a location.”
This includes looking for small recorders or indicator lights in anything connected to a power source, such as a clock radio, power outlets themselves, and battery-powered electronics such as smoke detectors and Bluetooth speakers. Turn off the lights and use a flashlight — a cell phone flashlight will do — to look for flashing lights that might reveal a camera.
If you are unsure, you can throw a towel over an electronic device or tape over the sockets.
Because many recording devices require an Internet connection to stream images, check your Wi-Fi network for any connected devices and ask your home owner or manager what they are. Apps like Network Analyzer and Ubiquiti WiFiman will scan networks and locate connected devices.
Many portable gadgets on Amazon priced under $150 claim to detect hidden cameras.
“None of the technologies are 100 percent effective, but they mitigate and reduce the chances of a recorder not being detected,” Mr Bombace said.
What recourse do you have?
If you find a hidden camera in a hotel room or short-term rental, gather evidence by taking photos or videos and contacting the police. Then find new accommodation.
Airbnb directs guests to report privacy violations to its customer support team. So does Vrbo, noting on its website that if you leave a property because of the breach, “the host may be required to refund the entire stay” and may be removed from the platform.
Hosts still have methods to ensure that their property rules are not abused. Both Vrbo and Airbnb allow hosts to use devices outdoors that measure sound decibels without recording conversations if they are disclosed to renters. Vrbo mentions their use to ward off potential noise complaints from neighbors. Airbnb, which has banned the parties, says the devices may detect “unauthorized parties”.
Platforms still allow exterior cameras in rental properties as long as they are notified to the guest prior to arrival. Disclosure is usually included in the listing and the device should not be used to peek indoors. Vrbo goes even further when it comes to outdoor pool cameras, requiring notice in both property descriptions and facilities.
