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Account deleted. Honestly given the pandemic (variations of cleaning standards between homes and hotels, and increased pricing) this was an easy choice. From t

Account deleted. Honestly given the pandemic (variations of cleaning standards between homes and hotels, and increased pricing) this was an easy choice. From the email: "We know your privacy is important" Airbnb should prove it by making this opt-in instead of opt-out (and not hiding the choice with a bunch of boilerplate). I expect these dark patterns from a shadier website, not Airbnb. Edit: If you go through "Account settings" you are only given a choice to "deactivate" your account. To actually remove your information, go here: https://www.airbnb.com/privacy/manage-your-data https://www.airbnb.com/privacy/manage-your-data

akg_67 6y ago
Did Airbnb confirm that they deleted account? They are using vague term “cancelled your account”. That is a fishy use of “cancel” word where “delete” should have been used. I don’t trust Airbnb.
- bmarquez 6y ago
  On the very last page of the process it said Airbnb might need to contact me to prove I made the request. I don't trust them either, but it's certainly better than the "deactivation" they were pushing.
  - akg_67 6y ago
    I think it is still deactivation. Most companies don't delete accounts when you request to delete account, they only disable your access to account. So, before cancelling I prefer to go into account, remove as much info as possible and change all other info before requesting to delete account. AirBnb wouldn't even let me access my account until I accepted their new T&C and upon declining they just moved me to cancel account with no chance to make any changes to existing info.
    - camkego 6y ago
      If one lives in California with the CCPA, cannot one ask them to delete the data?
      - jkaplowitz 6y ago
        Even in Europe (where the GDPR is present) you can't always insist that they delete the data. If there is a legitimate interest, like a legal data retention requirement for transaction billing records, you can't force the covered data to be deleted while that interest remains valid. Also other data can often be acceptably anonymized by removing the linkage with your personal identifiers, rather than truly wiped from existence. But yeah, a lot of companies don't even do what the GDPR actually requires, let alone what people think it does.
  - darekkay 6y ago
    Yes, I've deleted my Airbnb account a few months ago and had to go through their confirmation process. I've never booked anything, I've never provided any ID etc., and yet I had to provide a copy of my ID to prove that I'm the owner.
    - Viliam1234 6y ago
      "Please stop collecting and selling my data." "OK, send more data!"
- chucky123 6y ago
  Same concern here. I don’t think it was actually deleted from their database. Just flagged as deleted.
kuzee 6y ago
I think they're justified to make this clearly flagged (sent out emails), created with some of the leading privacy researchers, and provide an explicit opt-out, and in the service of revealing racism and discrimination on the platform. I got an email, read it, decided I didnt want to be involved, and decided to opt-out. Glad they were transparent and gave advance notice, not sure what else is reasonable to expect.
- hokumguru 6y ago
  Not everybody will see that email though and they are probably relying on that. I am sure, given the choice to opt in, most users would not (regardless of the cause) - Similar to Apples new anti-tracking in iOS 14 Few people just opt in to having their rights violated
- Lio 6y ago
  At this point in time I'd say that opt-out is a dark pattern. It's really only done because they know few people will voluntarily opt-in to something like tracking or profiling. Given the usual "Your privacy is important to us" guff this makes their privacy terms look even shadier.
mrgordon 6y ago
Did you really delete your account because they want to measure whether people are being discriminated against (with an opt out available)? That seems pretty awful given all the racism that people are fighting hard to stop. As far as the pandemic goes, Airbnb has a lot less turnover than hotels and there are mandated days between guests to ensure the virus cannot live on any surfaces. That’s much safer than you’re going to get at a hotel with a lobby that has hundreds of guests coming in and out every day. Half the things you pay extra for at a hotel are now useless (gym, room service) whereas the benefits of an Airbnb like having a real kitchen and more private space are worth more now.
- dgellow 6y ago
  How is deleting their account worse than opting out? Or are you implying that opting out of their studies is also an awful thing?
  - mrgordon 6y ago
    Deleting or opting out is fine if that’s what you really want to do. But making a big public announcement that you deleted your account because they started an optional study to try to stop discrimination is pretty awful. You’re basically sending them (and everyone on this forum) a message that if they try to help discrimination then they will lose users. It’s a lose-lose for Airbnb. They either do nothing and people blame the platform for passive discrimination or they try to improve it and then have to deal with people blaming them for being big brother and deleting their accounts in a fit of rage. MIT just had to remove a major AI dataset that was used to teach hundreds of AIs. It had numerous examples of black people and monkeys labeled with the N-word and has trained systematic bias into our algorithms. This type of bias cannot be fought by hiding from the problem. What Airbnb is doing is courageous and you are free to opt-out if you don’t like it, but taking a big public stand against an organization for actually trying to improve things for minorities in 2020 is pretty tone deaf.
    - dgellow 6y ago
      That’s fair, but also a strawman. I haven’t seen anyone make a statement against the actual research they want to do, the issue is regarding the opt-out approach that they hide behind a “forced opt-in to share your data for the good cause”. I don’t think anyone would complain if it was implemented as an opt-in.

akg_67 6y ago

Did Airbnb confirm that they deleted account? They are using vague term “cancelled your account”. That is a fishy use of “cancel” word where “delete” should have been used. I don’t trust Airbnb.

bmarquez 6y ago
On the very last page of the process it said Airbnb might need to contact me to prove I made the request. I don't trust them either, but it's certainly better than the "deactivation" they were pushing.
- akg_67 6y ago
  I think it is still deactivation. Most companies don't delete accounts when you request to delete account, they only disable your access to account. So, before cancelling I prefer to go into account, remove as much info as possible and change all other info before requesting to delete account. AirBnb wouldn't even let me access my account until I accepted their new T&C and upon declining they just moved me to cancel account with no chance to make any changes to existing info.
  - camkego 6y ago
    If one lives in California with the CCPA, cannot one ask them to delete the data?
    - jkaplowitz 6y ago
      Even in Europe (where the GDPR is present) you can't always insist that they delete the data. If there is a legitimate interest, like a legal data retention requirement for transaction billing records, you can't force the covered data to be deleted while that interest remains valid. Also other data can often be acceptably anonymized by removing the linkage with your personal identifiers, rather than truly wiped from existence. But yeah, a lot of companies don't even do what the GDPR actually requires, let alone what people think it does.
- darekkay 6y ago
  Yes, I've deleted my Airbnb account a few months ago and had to go through their confirmation process. I've never booked anything, I've never provided any ID etc., and yet I had to provide a copy of my ID to prove that I'm the owner.
  - Viliam1234 6y ago
    "Please stop collecting and selling my data." "OK, send more data!"
chucky123 6y ago
Same concern here. I don’t think it was actually deleted from their database. Just flagged as deleted.

kuzee 6y ago

I think they're justified to make this clearly flagged (sent out emails), created with some of the leading privacy researchers, and provide an explicit opt-out, and in the service of revealing racism and discrimination on the platform. I got an email, read it, decided I didnt want to be involved, and decided to opt-out. Glad they were transparent and gave advance notice, not sure what else is reasonable to expect.

hokumguru 6y ago
Not everybody will see that email though and they are probably relying on that. I am sure, given the choice to opt in, most users would not (regardless of the cause) - Similar to Apples new anti-tracking in iOS 14 Few people just opt in to having their rights violated
Lio 6y ago
At this point in time I'd say that opt-out is a dark pattern. It's really only done because they know few people will voluntarily opt-in to something like tracking or profiling. Given the usual "Your privacy is important to us" guff this makes their privacy terms look even shadier.

mrgordon 6y ago

Did you really delete your account because they want to measure whether people are being discriminated against (with an opt out available)? That seems pretty awful given all the racism that people are fighting hard to stop. As far as the pandemic goes, Airbnb has a lot less turnover than hotels and there are mandated days between guests to ensure the virus cannot live on any surfaces. That’s much safer than you’re going to get at a hotel with a lobby that has hundreds of guests coming in and out every day. Half the things you pay extra for at a hotel are now useless (gym, room service) whereas the benefits of an Airbnb like having a real kitchen and more private space are worth more now.

dgellow 6y ago
How is deleting their account worse than opting out? Or are you implying that opting out of their studies is also an awful thing?
- mrgordon 6y ago
  Deleting or opting out is fine if that’s what you really want to do. But making a big public announcement that you deleted your account because they started an optional study to try to stop discrimination is pretty awful. You’re basically sending them (and everyone on this forum) a message that if they try to help discrimination then they will lose users. It’s a lose-lose for Airbnb. They either do nothing and people blame the platform for passive discrimination or they try to improve it and then have to deal with people blaming them for being big brother and deleting their accounts in a fit of rage. MIT just had to remove a major AI dataset that was used to teach hundreds of AIs. It had numerous examples of black people and monkeys labeled with the N-word and has trained systematic bias into our algorithms. This type of bias cannot be fought by hiding from the problem. What Airbnb is doing is courageous and you are free to opt-out if you don’t like it, but taking a big public stand against an organization for actually trying to improve things for minorities in 2020 is pretty tone deaf.
  - dgellow 6y ago
    That’s fair, but also a strawman. I haven’t seen anyone make a statement against the actual research they want to do, the issue is regarding the opt-out approach that they hide behind a “forced opt-in to share your data for the good cause”. I don’t think anyone would complain if it was implemented as an opt-in.