An Uninvited Guest (aka Stalker) in my AirBnB
Hi,
I spent the last week of summer in Maastricht. A quaint town that I didn’t get to see much as I spent most of my time in lecture halls.
I book an AirBnB.
Self check-in. Cute. Good coffee. Great location. Beautifully designed.
It was a dream (that wasn’t going to last).
At the end of my first day, brain dead, I stumbled up the stairs. Opened the door and dropped everything on the floor to collapsed on the bed.
Then, out of nowhere, my iPhone had one of those I-need-you-to-pay-attention-to-me-right now alerts. Those that make you jump.
I look.
It says:
Someone is tracking you.
Wait? What?
What do you mean - tracking me?
I click on the message and this is what I see.
I was a bit confused.
Then it sunk in.
Someone was tracking my every move since 4AM!!!! They can see my every move on a detailed map. Every single place I’ve been.
I looked everywhere for a tag. Found it. Hidden in the keychain.
Clearly the owner has had some issues with people loosing their keys (at least I hope that was the reason) and thought this was the solution.
He didn’t first think:
What would someone feel like if they found out they are being tracked?
Why do I need to track them?
Is there a better way?
Should I be transparent about tracking them?
In marketing it’s similar. We want the info.
We don’t first think:
What do we need it for?
Do we really need all of it?
Does it have to be that invasive?
Are we being transparent about it?
Is there another way we can make this campaign successful?
How would I feel about it?
And it’s not only that. It’s not only about respecting the user and their privacy.
It’s also not exclusively about following the principles of data minimisation, and purpose limitation.
It’s about the consequences.
Do you know the first think I did once I realised that someone decided to track my every move while I was renting an apartment from him (no, there was no notice of this anywhere - I looked for it)?
I started checking for:
cameras
baby monitors
other tags
notices that I’m being tracked
wondering if the key code entry was transmitting anything
And I definitely didn’t sleep well that night. Nor did I sleep there another night.
The same happens with our customers if we are not clear about what we are doing.
If we abuse their trust.
If we track them without concern.
When they find out they run.
They think about all the other invasive things you could be doing.
You loose them, for life.
Is it worth it?
A quick read on how to detect you are being tracked by an AirTag if you are outside of the Apple ecosystem.
p.s.
How did it all end?
As I thought the owner of the AirBnB just didn't think it through. After bringing this up (no I was not a b*tch about it)
I got the following response:
x
Siobhan
Questions?
Reply to this email, I’ll answer. Promise.
Or book in a Power Hour to talk about ways to make data protection work for you, not against you.
#privacyisnotfuckingwithyourgrowth