New York City officials have just passed a law requiring Airbnb and other rental housing companies to share user data. The City Council justifies this decision by saying that it is fundamentally logical that the local government is informed of the number and nature of the residents who use these rental services.
Airbnb must provide its data, under penalty of a fine
While Airbnb has already voluntarily provided some of this data for a year and a half, the company must now collect and present, each month, a certain amount of information: name, postal address, email address, Airbnb profile URL and telephone number of hosts active during the month, but also the addresses and URLs of all the dwellings rented by a given host and whether it was a partial or full rental of the house. Finally, the total number of days the property was rented, the rent, the price paid, and any fees collected by Airbnb. In the event of non-compliance, Airbnb will be fined $ 1,500 or more for each missing information.
These private data can be used by the government
But the big difference is also in the nature of the data delivered. Indeed, it is much less disturbing to give, for example, the total monthly amount of the inhabitants of such or such district of the city, than to communicate the personal information of the users, the sum gained over a month and thanks to which accommodation. And for good reason, the hosts can, in such a case, be identified individually and Airbnb can no longer protect the privacy of its users. The data collected may, moreover, be published publicly in the context of studies or even trials, causing a considerable restriction on the freedom of users of the platform. However, the use that will be made of this data is not clearly defined and Airbnb asks that the company and its users be made more aware.
A law to punish illegal rentals
This government decision is part of its fight against rising rents, real estate scams and other unsanitary rentals. New York City Councilor Carlina Rivera explained in Tech Crunch that “this law is about transparency and accountability of billionaire companies that are not good neighbors”. There is also no doubt that people participating in this parallel economy of real estate rental, will be sanctioned. The law was defined by the Council as being that which “provides the city with an additional tool to enforce laws against illegal short-term rentals”. Airbnb has obviously shown its anger and accused the City Council of defending the interests of the hotel industry. The company also denounces a “Violation of the privacy of New Yorkers, by the City Council.” Council members who voted in favor of the law by an overwhelming majority, say that the measure is intended to protect citizens and not expose them.
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