Airbnb exec resigned over concerns company shared too much data with China

[Melodie-And-John0]

I just heard about Airbnb's data sharing practices-

"The former chief trust officer of Airbnb was so concerned about how much user data the internet behemoth was sharing with China, he resigned from his post last year after just six months on the job.

Sean Joyce, Airbnb’s former chief trust officer — also a former deputy director with the FBI — reportedly resigned last year over concerns about how much user data the company was sharing with China.

"According to the paper, Chinese officials asked for more data in the summer of last year — specifically requesting “real-time data” which wonuld alert them to when someone first books a property. This alarmed Joyce, who “worried such data-sharing would enable Chinese government surveillance and put members of minority ethnic groups such as repressed Muslim-majority Uighurs at risk.

Joyce raised the alarm with Chief Executive Brian Chesky and co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk, who leads Airbnb’s China unit, to which Blecharczyk reportedly said, “We’re not here to promote American values” — prompting Joyce to resign.”-   New York Post

This concerns me, its not just American values we are talking about here @Nathan1 and while I don't know a single Uighur, they and others that arent drinking the communist Kool-Aid don't deserve to be outed, possibly jailed or worse and their families persecuted because they made the mistake of booking through Airbnb.   I'm being forced to sign an anti discrimination agreement that makes me accept pets in my home without warning as terms for staying with Airbnb yet the mothership is purposely engaging in practices that are absolutely discriminatory and predatory in nature with a nation that is known to do very bad things to its citizens and ours that don't toe the communist line.   It feels like two different companies, the one that cares for everyone regardless,  and one that sells its soul to the devil for a piece of his pie.   Does anyone else find this to be a problem or is it just me?  Stay well, JR

[Anonymous]

@Melodie-And-John0  I'm pretty sure you tagged the wrong Nathan there; this Australian fellow is not Mr. Blecharczyk. 

I do agree that Airbnb's idealistic rhetoric rings hollow, although it would be rather silly to say that what's compromising them ethically is motivated by communism. As with every other big company that is willing to acquiesce to the demands of a totalitarian state for a slice of China's gargantuan market, the motive begins and ends with profit. So, there's American values for ya.

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Anonymous ,

When the SHTF in Feb, at least we didnt have to worry about fuel or most food products because we have them already, it was the things we don't make or have like electronics, meds and medical supplies that hurt Americans the most and I am pretty sure that message got through to most of us.   "I dont wanna pay allot for this muffler" has been replaced with "Lets make sure we can always get a muffler when we need one!  I think your gonna find the American way is going back where it came from, made in America for the most part, the big C virus has reminded us of what we can hope for in a pinch when we don't DIY, Didley Squat or less.  Its less Nationalistic than defensive.   Also. its the centralized unchecked power that communism allows this to happen unabated, its not the cause, just the iron dome shield protecting its existence!  

BTW- Trump signs executive order banning investment in Chinese companies linked to military.

President Trump on Thursday signed an executive order paving the way for the U.S. to blacklist Chinese companies that the administration alleges are connected to Beijing’s military. 

The order is expected to go into effect Jan. 11, ahead of the start of the new presidential administration in which Joe Biden is the projected next U.S. president. 

A series of high-profile Chinese companies are named in the order including Huawei, a technology company that the Trump White House has sought to block sales from U.S. businesses to over national security.

The Department of Defense over the summer released a list of dozens of Chinese companies it identified as having connections to the Chinese military, including telecommunications firms, aviation, aerospace, shipping and construction companies, to name a few.  

Now, U.S. citizens are blocked from owning or trading securities linked to these companies.-The Hill- 11/12/20

Seems like a good start!

Also, Sorry @Nathan1 , I meant @Anonymous (I think) I tagged you inappropriately, hopefully I can get one of the fine folks in the CC mod squad to fix that for me!   

[Sarah977]

Are you under the impression that the US doesn't profile and collect data on foreigners coming into the country and its own citizens?

@Melodie-And-John0

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Sarah977 , I am sure the USA is collecting data on all of us  (including our president) via the patriot act and FISA courts, what I am not aware of is US prisons filled with political prisoners or camps that reeducate to death those found to be not patriotic enough.  The Uighurs  are just some of the most recent non gratis humans in China.  The Chinese government is still the host and delivery agent of many of the most abhorrent human rights violations in the world, US companies should not be assisting them in that venture, one dead or demonized Uighur because of Airbnb's shortsightedness is exactly one too many.  Harvesting of human organs for resale, killing second babies (mostly women) and theft of our greatest secrets and intellectual property should minimize comparisons of the USA to Blood Red China, this isn't a good time to forget Tiananmen Square.  It wasn't that long ago and the Chi-Comms biggest regrets about that duck shoot are the cameras that captured that disgusting moment not the dead protestors or survivors that are still in prison today.   The Chinese people need us to stand strong against their leaders oppression and our companies should do the same, just my 2 Yen for all that matters.  Stay well, JR

[Christine2773]

I totally agree.  If the big corporations do not stand against China’s immoral schemes and mindsets, then why are we still with them. I have been threatened by Airbnb that if I do not sign a statement saying I will wear a mask around my guests they will close off my business. I have not signed it because  will not be dictated to by a company I do business with, but am not employed by. Not that I wont wear a mask if a guest requests that. 
just like our great governor of Texas states, he trusts us as Texans to do the right thing and he refuses to mandate
air bnb might be in for another class action lawsuit. A lot of hosts feel like I do.

[Sarah977]

"just like our great governor of Texas states, he trusts us as Texans to do the right thing and he refuses to mandate"

Considering that Texas tops the list with the highest number of infections of any state in the US and has the second highest number of deaths, I'd say that trust is highly misplaced. Obviously people aren't doing "the right thing".

@Christine2773

[Christine2773]

Texas is also the biggest state in the union and the highest death rate is New York

[Anonymous]

@Christine2773  Texas is not the largest state in the union by land area (that's Alaska) nor by population (California has over 10 million more people). I thought every schoolchild knew that.

[Sarah977]

There's a funny news spoof show in Canada called "This Hour has 22 Minutes". There's a segment called "Talking to Americans" where one of the comedians interviews Americans on the street (for real), asking them questions about Canada. One of the questions was "So how big is Canada?" He got answers like "It's just a little bit bigger than Texas".

@Anonymous

[Sarah977]

Land mass is irrelevant. The entire state of Texas has a population of 1,231, 253. NYC alone, not even counting the rest of the state of New York has a population of over 8 million. Texas has a COVID infection rate of 42,463 per million people, New York has an infection rate of 33,857.

**

@Christine2773

**[Inappropriate comment removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines]

[Susan1404]

@Sarah977- I haven't been here in quite awhile and am shocked to see someone I respected so much slinging mud at people posting here who are Americans.  I am an American citizen, born and raised here, and I can assure you that the Covid infection rates are no way to judge any one state in the U.S.  Those rates are seldom accurate and the numbers are misleading, with so many deaths from other reasons being contributed to Covid.  I've seen  many spoof shows that you refer to and the sad truth is that most countries have such spoof shows that illustrate poor knowledge for other countries as well.  Ignorance on certain subjects is certainly not something that exists only in America!  Come on Sarah, be better than Andrew who has difficulty keeping with civilities when he posts.

[Sarah977]

I haven't "slung mud" at anyone. When people post false information, and come up with illogical deductions, no matter where they are from, I will stand up to correct it. 

There are no deaths being attributed to COVID that weren't caused by the patient contracting COVID. Medical personnel are not in some conspiracy to inflate numbers and to say they are is shockingly disrespectful to their incredibly difficult job trying to save the lives of those who are suffering with the virus.

 My comment about the news spoof show was in response to Andrew's correction of the previous poster's incorrect statement and lack of knowledge about the geography of her own country. It wasn't an attack on Americans in general, but you obviously chose to see it that way.

And you are quite correct, people from anywhere can be quite ignorant of anything outside their own culture and country. Ignorance isn't the same thing as stupidity, though. I'm ignorant of a million things in this world myself. But I did know that Canada was the second largest country in the world by the time I was in grade 5.

And FYI I was born and raised in the US. 

@Susan1404

[Susan1404]

@Sarah977- yes, your mud slinging is most distinct in your final sentence concerning deductive reasoning - what an ugly thing to say to someone.  You may be American born and raised, but your words speak of someone who has to come up with insulting idiosyncrasies to others here because you have nothing more intelligent to add to your posts.  Yes, there are plenty of deaths occurring here in this country that are blamed on Covid, but while Covid was diagnosed, it was a secondary reason to a death.  Until and unless you live here while this is occurring, you only have second-hand knowledge and that is what you hear and read.  I live here and have lived here thru this entire pandemic in the U.S.  To add to that, I have firsthand knowledge and experience that people I know have died from heart attacks, strokes and other ailments, but had their deaths blamed on  Covid.  I highly suggest you worry about your country of residence since you know only hearsay about other countries.  I have always enjoyed your postings, but now see a different person.  Please do not reply to me on any other postings I make in this Community Center because you will be wasting your breath.  My respect for you is no longer.

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Sarah977  "There are no deaths being attributed to COVID that weren't caused by the patient contracting COVID. ". 

Thats not the theme or topic in this thread but after re-reading your response, I  have to say that the numbers game here and abroad (especially China) in this thing is far from universally acceptable as hallmark.  Actually, in the US, every state and even counties in the same state have used different methods to tally infected, died from and other stats and even changed how they validate those numbers over the last 9 months while continuing to tally them as totals. 

More also important data omitted like leaving out numbers like how many people died because they couldn't get diagnostic tests, Chemo or other "Elective Procedures", or for folks who have committed suicide because while tele-counseling may be billable as a service, its not an effective way to talk someone down from blowing their heads off or even all the old folks that died from "Natural causes" during a time when family members couldn't aid or assist them and I think the numbers are fairly meaningless as a tool for much. 

"Beijing, Dec. 3 (Petra) -- China on Wednesday recorded 16 new coronavirus infections over the last 24 hours, all of them were imported, according to the country's National Health Commission (NHC).

In a daily report on COVID-19, the commission said it had received reports of 86,567 confirmed cases and 4,634 deaths in 31 provincial-level regions on the Chinese mainland.

"The Chinese mainland reported 6 new asymptomatic cases, including 5 imported cases," the NCH added."

Talk about meaningless numbers, does anyone think the largest population in the world where the disease undeniably came from lost only 4634 citizens to death from this pandemic worldwide killer?  I would like to bring this back to where we started, China requiring guest data from Airbnb yet never being held to reporting  anything close to accurate is not anything we can support.