Family finds hidden camera livestreaming from their Airbnb in Ireland

[Eugene]

Source: CNN

Family finds hidden camera livestreaming from their Airbnb in Ireland

By Emily Dixon, CNN
Updated 0146 GMT (0946 HKT) April 6, 2019

(CNN) — After arriving at their Airbnb in Cork, Ireland, a family from New Zealand made an unsettling discovery: a hidden camera, livestreaming from the living room.

Nealie and Andrew Barker, from Auckland, were in the midst of a 14-month trip around Europe when they arrived at the Airbnb property with their four children and niece.

Once the family had unpacked, Andrew Barker, who works in IT security, scanned the house's Wi-Fi network.

The scan unearthed a camera, and subsequently a live feed. From the angle of the video, the family tracked down the camera, concealed in what appeared to be a smoke alarm or carbon monoxide detector.

-snip-

Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/05/europe/ireland-airbnb-hidden-camera-scli-intl/index.html

[SHRED]

1. Freaky

And creepy.

[FM123]

2. Yes, Airbnb Has a Hidden-Camera Problem

Atlantic Monthly has a big article about this:
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/03/what-happens-when-you-find-cameras-your-airbnb/585007/

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

3. Hmmm. How interesting.

I will say that I've never understood the appeal of Air bnb. It's not always cheaper than regular inexpensive hotels, and I don't understand why people would be so eager to stay in the homes of total strangers. And even if regular hotels cost more, there are certain aspects that are assured. Like cleanliness. Like privacy. Oh, and not hidden cameras. What a novel notion.

[marble falls]

4. Like having a kitchen, quiet neighbors, residential streets. Camera's however are not ...

acceptable.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. Cameras. Not camera's.

Sorry to be a grammar/spelling nazi, but plurals are NOT formed by apostrophe s.

Anyway, I understand the desire to have a kitchen and so on, but standard b&bs often suffice. Although maybe they've been subsumed into Air bnb.

But my essential point stands. Why risk staying in a place completely unvetted when hotels already exist. And in many places hotels or motels with kitchen facilities are already in place.

[marble falls]

6. Thranx'... You're right, but what makes you think hotels or motels aren't ever 'bugged'? ...

there is no doubt: this camera thing has me paused and I am now going to be more suspicious in the future no matter where I stay.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

7. A touching sort of innocence and naivete perhaps?

I just sort of doubt that the people working in a hotel or motel would generally have the time to hide tiny cameras in the many rooms.

Perhaps more to the point, we aren't reading a bunch of stories about people finding hidden cameras in a Motel 6 or a Marriott, just in Airbnbs.