Hi Linda, My photograph was in profile. I removed it yesterday, after I realized that Airbnb was about to close my account, since there was no help from support team, and verification process did not work. Airbnb policy has nothing to do with safety of the hosts or, for that matter, verification itself. They let me to browse the listings, contact the property owner, and, finally, after the host accepted my request, to go all the way through booking process. Only after the money on my credit card were safely locked, Airbnb began to use booking as a leverage to gouge private information out of me. How does it help host to feel safe if the Airbnb knows all my contacts from Google mail, or my LinkedIn network? This information is only valuable for data mining - whether Airbnb does it itself or sells to a third party. There can be no other use - what means could Airbnb possibly have to check that, for example, a foreign passport is genuine? Demanding government ID is even more sinister. One of the representatives from support line told me that government ID images get thrown away after having been compared with the selfie (they require it as the part of verification). Interestingly enough, after uploading first page of the passport, I was not even asked for the selfie! Obviously, the images of government IDs go to be stored somewhere (possibly the third party company providing ID checking), waiting for hackers to harvest them (just think of Uber, Experian, DNC and many others). I wonder how safe we Airbnb users will feel when (not "if"!) that happens? The only reason I went through with this ID "verification" process is because the host will lose the reservation if my account with Airbnb is closed. Running Airbnb takes a lot of effort and carries many risks already, no one needs additional complications. I've stayed at enough places to understand that. If a host needs to see my ID, it is never a problem. Some need it for the piece of mind, some for the taxes their government requires. In Italy, for example, I gave the host copy of a passport for the tax records. If I am dealing with the host directly, there are far less concerns compared to giving away my personal information to a big company that assumes no responsibility in safeguarding it.
