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> AirBnB: Transforms residential housing into (in most jurisdictions) illegal hotels. Huge part of this is actually state over-regulation. People just can't bu

by elcct 10y ago

> AirBnB: Transforms residential housing into (in most jurisdictions) illegal hotels. Huge part of this is actually state over-regulation. People just can't build houses. If local folks can earn some money on the side by renting out their houses, this is a good thing. Why tourists should be forced to pay for over-expensive hotels? Instead of pressing companies like AirBnB, people should press governments to remove regulations that are not necessary only serve to hire civil servants out of family members of ruling parties (not to mention pocketing bribes to give permissions to build) and make the money for the privileged. By asking for even more regulation, you are just tightening the loop on your neck.

CreRecombinase 10y ago
That's not the way the law works though. You don't get to decide which ones are worth following.
- smsm42 10y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_disobedience https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_disobedience
- pmoriarty 10y ago
  "That's not the way the law works though. You don't get to decide which ones are worth following." You do. See: civil disobedience.[1] Also, just because something is illegal doesn't mean it's wrong. A simple example were the laws against helping runaway slaves in the US. Many today would agree that helping runaway slaves was the right thing to do, but yet it was illegal. There were similar laws against helping Jews in Nazi Germany. Once again, just because you broke the law by helping a Jew wouldn't mean you did the wrong thing. That's not to say there's any sort of moral equivalence between people (allegedly) breaking laws by participating in Uber or AirBnb and those who helped runaway slaves or Jews in Nazi Germany. They're just examples to show that breaking a law need not automatically be wrong, and that doing the right thing can be more important than obeying the law. Finally, there are plenty of examples of stupid laws and outdated laws. Laws against sodomy or against dildos over a certain length spring to mind. Both of these existed relatively recently in the US (and possibly still exist), but they were pretty much ignored, and few people would have considered themselves to be in the wrong if they broke those laws. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_disobedience https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_disobedience
mackmgg 10y ago
Except, some of that regulation is important. If you're in a hotel, and there's a fire, you know to follow the signs out. There are exit signs, emergency lights, and maps showing you where to go. In someone's house, they don't have any of that, which isn't an issue for the person living there, because of course they know how to get out of their own house. But when it's being rented out, there are certain regulations to make sure that someone unfamiliar with a building can still exit in a fire. Driving up rent is something that's probably unavoidable, but safety is something AirBNB could try to enforce if they wanted to.
- elcct 10y ago
  And that should be up to you to decide, not the state. Nobody forces you to use Airbnb. Also you can just ask how to get out in case of fire.
  - fegu 10y ago
    In a pure libertarian society this might make sense in theory. But when people are injured we all get to pay either through socialised health care or health insurance increasing. This is part of the reason why seat belts are mandatory, your injured sorry ass hurts us all. Thus we should get a say in you not hurting yourself.
    - elcct 10y ago
      Here we go again. So how about we start with banning McDonalds, riding bikes, drinking, running and whatever else that can "injury your sorry ass"... Why not get babies killed right after birth, that will save us from all the troubles that come with living.
- hehheh 10y ago
  Is it hard to figure out how to get out of a house in an emergency? I mean, houses are only so big, and are typically one to two stories tall. They're not a large hotel with windows that don't open and halls that are nothing but doors.
Anderkent 10y ago
> Why tourists should be forced to pay for over-expensive hotels? Because the costs of those tourists being is not on the owner of the flat, but their neighbours - who've bought or rented their homes with the expectation of a residential area, not living next to a hotel. Zoning laws are not arbitrary rent-seeking enablers; they're protection against damaging behaviour that is difficult to enforce on a case-by-case basis.
- elcct 10y ago
  > who've bought or rented their homes with the expectation of a residential area, not living next to a hotel. Well, if you are xenophobic then maybe you should buy a farm somewhere nowhere when you won't be seeing strangers.
  - Anderkent 10y ago
    Or maybe I dislike being woken up at 5am every week by people banging around with their huge bags on the staircase. I'm sure that's some sort of xenophobia.
    - xapata 10y ago
      That's a different problem. Don't ban all guests just because you don't like loud guests at 5am.
      - Anderkent 10y ago
        No, it is exactly the same problem. It's impossible to police whether a particular short-term guest is a loud one or a quiet one. So we separate the areas where tourists stay, where hotels are, from the residential ones where people live permanently. It's a great solution, until people start defecting and creating things like airbnb.
        xapata 10y ago
        "Impossible" is a bold claim. There are all sorts of things that condo associations regulate. To put it another way: some people drive while intoxicated, but drinking alcohol is still legal.

by elcct 10y ago

CreRecombinase 10y ago

That's not the way the law works though. You don't get to decide which ones are worth following.

smsm42 10y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_disobedience https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_disobedience
pmoriarty 10y ago
"That's not the way the law works though. You don't get to decide which ones are worth following." You do. See: civil disobedience.[1] Also, just because something is illegal doesn't mean it's wrong. A simple example were the laws against helping runaway slaves in the US. Many today would agree that helping runaway slaves was the right thing to do, but yet it was illegal. There were similar laws against helping Jews in Nazi Germany. Once again, just because you broke the law by helping a Jew wouldn't mean you did the wrong thing. That's not to say there's any sort of moral equivalence between people (allegedly) breaking laws by participating in Uber or AirBnb and those who helped runaway slaves or Jews in Nazi Germany. They're just examples to show that breaking a law need not automatically be wrong, and that doing the right thing can be more important than obeying the law. Finally, there are plenty of examples of stupid laws and outdated laws. Laws against sodomy or against dildos over a certain length spring to mind. Both of these existed relatively recently in the US (and possibly still exist), but they were pretty much ignored, and few people would have considered themselves to be in the wrong if they broke those laws. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_disobedience https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_disobedience

mackmgg 10y ago

Except, some of that regulation is important. If you're in a hotel, and there's a fire, you know to follow the signs out. There are exit signs, emergency lights, and maps showing you where to go. In someone's house, they don't have any of that, which isn't an issue for the person living there, because of course they know how to get out of their own house. But when it's being rented out, there are certain regulations to make sure that someone unfamiliar with a building can still exit in a fire. Driving up rent is something that's probably unavoidable, but safety is something AirBNB could try to enforce if they wanted to.

elcct 10y ago
And that should be up to you to decide, not the state. Nobody forces you to use Airbnb. Also you can just ask how to get out in case of fire.
- fegu 10y ago
  In a pure libertarian society this might make sense in theory. But when people are injured we all get to pay either through socialised health care or health insurance increasing. This is part of the reason why seat belts are mandatory, your injured sorry ass hurts us all. Thus we should get a say in you not hurting yourself.
  - elcct 10y ago
    Here we go again. So how about we start with banning McDonalds, riding bikes, drinking, running and whatever else that can "injury your sorry ass"... Why not get babies killed right after birth, that will save us from all the troubles that come with living.
hehheh 10y ago
Is it hard to figure out how to get out of a house in an emergency? I mean, houses are only so big, and are typically one to two stories tall. They're not a large hotel with windows that don't open and halls that are nothing but doors.

Anderkent 10y ago

> Why tourists should be forced to pay for over-expensive hotels? Because the costs of those tourists being is not on the owner of the flat, but their neighbours - who've bought or rented their homes with the expectation of a residential area, not living next to a hotel. Zoning laws are not arbitrary rent-seeking enablers; they're protection against damaging behaviour that is difficult to enforce on a case-by-case basis.

elcct 10y ago
> who've bought or rented their homes with the expectation of a residential area, not living next to a hotel. Well, if you are xenophobic then maybe you should buy a farm somewhere nowhere when you won't be seeing strangers.
- Anderkent 10y ago
  Or maybe I dislike being woken up at 5am every week by people banging around with their huge bags on the staircase. I'm sure that's some sort of xenophobia.
  - xapata 10y ago
    That's a different problem. Don't ban all guests just because you don't like loud guests at 5am.
    - Anderkent 10y ago
      No, it is exactly the same problem. It's impossible to police whether a particular short-term guest is a loud one or a quiet one. So we separate the areas where tourists stay, where hotels are, from the residential ones where people live permanently. It's a great solution, until people start defecting and creating things like airbnb.
      - xapata 10y ago
        "Impossible" is a bold claim. There are all sorts of things that condo associations regulate. To put it another way: some people drive while intoxicated, but drinking alcohol is still legal.