Apartment-sharing website AirBnB is stuck, it seems, between a rock and a hard place. In October of 2013, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman subpoenaed data on all 225,000 of the site's New York users. AirBnB fought back and won, but on a technicality — the judge essentially ruled that the subpoena wasn't specific enough to be complied with. That led to AirBnB basically giving up and agreeing to turn over data on any specific users that Schneiderman's office asked for, which they planned to do yesterday, supplying the Attorney General with information on 124 users who apparently violated their site policies. That, in turn, led to a group of 21 anonymous users suing AirBnB, the Post reports. Hey, you can't please everybody.
The suit alleges that AirBnB violated users' privacy by turning over their names, email addresses, telephone numbers, social media accounts, and tax identification numbers, and that the website changed its privacy terms without notifying anyone. Adam Leitman Bailey, the attorney who filed the suit, says that AirBnB has agreed to hold off on turning over the information for the time being. How long Schneiderman is willing to wait, though, remains to be seen.
On the bright side, all those ads in the subway look real nice.
· Airbnb under fire for 'secret' plan to release users' information [NYP]
· AirBnB coverage [Curbed]