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Search "How to find a camera in your airbnb" on DDG and you'll find pages of tips on how to methodically search a space for hidden devices. This in itself show

Search "How to find a camera in your airbnb" on DDG and you'll find pages of tips on how to methodically search a space for hidden devices. This in itself shows the sheer gravity of the problem with Airbnb these days. It's issues like this, along with similar involving Uber (3000 sexual assaults, 8 murders, 58 riders killed in accidents in 2018 alone[0]), that have me very wary of using services rendered by private individuals through apps. The issues alone, nevermind having almost zero recourse if/when things do go wrong. [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/05/technology/uber-sexual-assaults-murders-deaths-safety.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/05/technology/uber-sexual-as...

berberous 7y ago
Those numbers are shocking, but meaningless without a comparison to base rate numbers prior to Uber. I have a hard time believing that Uber isn’t relatively safer than a taxi, given that every Uber ride is tracked and the police will instantly know which driver to investigate.
- RijilV 7y ago
  Really? I’m not that frequent an Uber user (few times a month) but I’ve certainly encountered a different driver in a different car than what the app said. Less so in These United [sic] States than elsewhere, but I would say it happens enough where I’m not longer surprised when it does. I think we all underestimate where USA taxi companies are with their technology if we think Uber/Lyft are the only ones who know where the cars are.
- GauntletWizard 7y ago
  I believed that too, until I worked at Uber corporate. They have a very defensive stance towards revealing driver information - They would not simply honor requests for driver information, even with warrant, and sent every such one to their legal team to fight. Not to handle - to fight.
rasz 7y ago
>Uber (3000 sexual assaults, 8 murders reason for separate bathrooms for drivers and employees
CaptainZapp 7y ago
Search "How to find a camera in your airbnb" on DDG and you'll find pages of tips on how to methodically search a space for hidden devices. For me there's an easy way to avoid that: Rent a room in a hotel. You get a few advantages in the process: You don't really have to search for cameras in your room (and to the whataboutists that cram out some old story about the dodgy motel keeper who had cameras installed in guest rooms: How often did that happen compared to the shit that hosts pull off in Airbnb appartments?) You don't have to tiptoe around other residents who understandibly hate your guts, because they don't appreciate an illegal hotel in their place of residence and all the shit that comes with it Chances that you get ripped off by some less than honest host, or a whole ring of hosts working in concert, are much, much smaller You don't get sudden cancelations on short notice In better hotels you have a front desk, housekeeping and maintenance staff on call if things do go wrong You're not breaking the law You have, at least with larger chains, customer representatives, who actually deal with justified complaints and won't run into a "Eat shit, that's our final decision and we won't correspond with you about this issue anymore and if you insist we'll ban you from the platform" response (except when your issue blows up on social media and you get the usual pr lies from Airbnb and their ilk) Oh, and prices for - if you're lucky - generically and cheaply decorated cookie cutter appartments managed by some faceless management company are really not that much cheaper, if at all, than the one for comparable hotel rooms. Espically in desirable locations. Airbnb may have made sense in 2013. Nowadays I can just shake my head.

berberous 7y ago

Those numbers are shocking, but meaningless without a comparison to base rate numbers prior to Uber. I have a hard time believing that Uber isn’t relatively safer than a taxi, given that every Uber ride is tracked and the police will instantly know which driver to investigate.

RijilV 7y ago
Really? I’m not that frequent an Uber user (few times a month) but I’ve certainly encountered a different driver in a different car than what the app said. Less so in These United [sic] States than elsewhere, but I would say it happens enough where I’m not longer surprised when it does. I think we all underestimate where USA taxi companies are with their technology if we think Uber/Lyft are the only ones who know where the cars are.
GauntletWizard 7y ago
I believed that too, until I worked at Uber corporate. They have a very defensive stance towards revealing driver information - They would not simply honor requests for driver information, even with warrant, and sent every such one to their legal team to fight. Not to handle - to fight.

rasz 7y ago

>Uber (3000 sexual assaults, 8 murders reason for separate bathrooms for drivers and employees

CaptainZapp 7y ago

Search "How to find a camera in your airbnb" on DDG and you'll find pages of tips on how to methodically search a space for hidden devices. For me there's an easy way to avoid that: Rent a room in a hotel. You get a few advantages in the process: You don't really have to search for cameras in your room (and to the whataboutists that cram out some old story about the dodgy motel keeper who had cameras installed in guest rooms: How often did that happen compared to the shit that hosts pull off in Airbnb appartments?) You don't have to tiptoe around other residents who understandibly hate your guts, because they don't appreciate an illegal hotel in their place of residence and all the shit that comes with it Chances that you get ripped off by some less than honest host, or a whole ring of hosts working in concert, are much, much smaller You don't get sudden cancelations on short notice In better hotels you have a front desk, housekeeping and maintenance staff on call if things do go wrong You're not breaking the law You have, at least with larger chains, customer representatives, who actually deal with justified complaints and won't run into a "Eat shit, that's our final decision and we won't correspond with you about this issue anymore and if you insist we'll ban you from the platform" response (except when your issue blows up on social media and you get the usual pr lies from Airbnb and their ilk) Oh, and prices for - if you're lucky - generically and cheaply decorated cookie cutter appartments managed by some faceless management company are really not that much cheaper, if at all, than the one for comparable hotel rooms. Espically in desirable locations. Airbnb may have made sense in 2013. Nowadays I can just shake my head.