A group of 25 anonymous Airbnb hosts are filed suit this morning to block the New York State Attorney General’s request for information, The Real Deal reports.
In May, San Francisco-based Airbnb agreed to give the Attorney General’s office anonymous user information for 16,000 hosts, with the identities on request if illegal activity is suspected.
Late August, Airbnb announced on its blog the Attorney General requested personal information for 124 past and present hosts with records of multiple listings.
“As this process progresses, we will continue to strive to be as transparent as possible,” Airbnb head of global public policy David Hantman wrote in the blog entry.
Now the anonymous group, represented by attorney Adam Leitman Bailey, is arguing the disclosure of this personal information is a violation of the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment.
About a quarter of the group is unemployed, a quarter rent out only one apartment, and some of the hosts rent out 2-5 units, Bailey told The Real Deal.
