A Man Found Cameras In His Airbnb, Says Company Was OK With It

When Jeffrey Bigham, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, rented an AirBnB for his family recently, the last thing he thought he would be doing was unplugging cameras in his rental.

But that’s just Bigham found himself doing.

“I was shocked and immediately unplugged them,” he wrote in a blog post.

Bigham says he knew of the security camera “at the entrance” because it was described in the AirBnB listing. However, the other cameras were not disclosed in the listing and that’s why the professor has a problem.

The plugs were pulled on the two cameras and Bigham filed a complaint with the vacation and home rental site. The complaint, however, went to where. AirBnB says the host properly disclosed the cameras because of a picture featured in the listing.

“I feel like our experience is in some ways more insidious,” Bigham wrote. “If you find a truly hidden camera in your bedroom or bathroom, AirBnB will support you. If you find an undisclosed camera in the private living room, AirBnB will not support you.”

After Bigham’s blog post went viral, AirBnB issued him a full refund and a spokesperson provided the following statement:

“Our community’s privacy and safety is our priority, and our original handling of this incident did not meet the high standards we set for ourselves. We have apologized to Mr. Bigham and fully refunded him for his stay. We require hosts to clearly disclose any security cameras in writing on their listings and we have strict standards governing surveillance devices in listings. This host has been removed from our community.”