Il Instagram Privacy Lawsuits Facial Recognition

Moreover, three states and the District of Columbia also sued Google in their respective jurisdictions in January 2022 for the company’s location tracking practices. The circumstances are presently pending, and Google’s motions to dismiss in two cases had been denied. As far as settlements, Google additionally separately paid $85 million in October 2022 to settle a privacy lawsuit introduced by the State of Arizona. You could have the potential of getting money or advantages that will come from a trial or a settlement. There are roughly 1.four million Illinois residents eligible to file a declare, according to SEOHost.net, an SEO hosting provider. Google Photos' Face Grouping device lets customers organize photographs of the same particular person by way of facial recognition algorithms. Plaintiffs within the Google lawsuit are expected to qualify for up to $400. – A class action lawsuit has been filed against an Illinois nursing residence supplier. The lawsuit alleged that Facebook’s preliminary model of the its Tag Suggestions software, which scans a user’s face in pictures and offers suggestions about who that individual might be, stored biometric data without person consent, violating the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act. A ultimate approval listening to within the case is scheduled for Wednesday earlier than Cook County Circuit Judge Anna M. Loftus, who granted preliminary approval of the settlement agreement this spring. If the settlement is accredited, claimants could obtain their cash inside 90 days of the approval, though any appeals would slow the process down. airbnb lawsuits We are devoted to attaining justice for our purchasers through class action, business-to-business, public client, whistleblower, and personal injury litigation. With the denial of certiori, the Family Defense Center plans to make legislative efforts to curtail some of the abuses challenged in the lawsuit a precedence for its work within the next few years. Major law companies are aiding the FDC in developing a legislative coverage agenda, and ISBA support for FDC’s proposals is likely to be requested within the near future. The courtroom of appeals assumed dad and mom would reject safety plans if they thought the State had no case against them. The trial courtroom found, nevertheless, that DCFS doesn't tell mother and father either why it has concluded a security plan is important, nor what proof it has gathered against them. Moreover, DCFS does not require that any evidence be secured before it tells parents they must have a safety plan or face their children’s elimination to foster care. In this case, having the assist of a staff of attorneys who're familiar with the process, filings, and administration of a class action may be of nice profit to you as an individual. Preliminary approval has been granted for a $3.5 million settlement of a category action lawsuit accusing Ceridian of violating Illinois’ biometric data privacy law with its time and attendance tracking merchandise, the Cook County Record reports. Today, 9 staff in Illinois authorities filed a federal class action lawsuit against AFSCME, demanding the union return money taken from their paychecks for union “agency” or “fair share” charges before the Court’s June 2018 ruling in Janus v. AFSCME. Businesses faced with a category action suit can no longer ignore consumer's fraud claims. Our lawyers have won substantial victories for our purchasers in school action cases in the court docket room and on the settlement desk. In this information, you'll learn to file a category action lawsuit. If you imagine you've grounds to file a class action lawsuit, retain a mass tort attorney that will assist you navigate the claims course of and defend your rights. You are signing up to take part in what’s recognized in the authorized world as “mass arbitration.” Mass arbitration occurs when lots of or hundreds of shoppers deliver individual arbitration claims against the identical company, on the identical time and over the same concern. In some cases, the corporate might choose to agree to a quick settlement somewhat than arbitrate the big number of claims and pay the pricey upfront charges that come together with doing so. However, regardless of how such business practices are viewed on an ethical stage, the shortage of complete data protection laws at the united states federal degree implies that businesses will proceed to steal the personal information of American citizens with out punishment. The suit was filed on behalf of three individuals and three companies. The plaintiffs have been ComEd customers since no much less than 2011, the yr federal prosecutors say the bribery scheme started. The suit comes less than two weeks after ComEd admitted to the scheme involving jobs, contracts and payments to government leaders in Springfield. If you choose out, then you'll not receive any benefit from the lawsuit, even whether it is resolved in favor of the plaintiff. When making this determination, you want to search the advice of an experienced class action lawyer who can clarify your legal choices. Depending on the state of affairs, you may be actively involved in a class action lawsuit. This is more than likely when you are one of many first folks to find the injury or hunt down authorized illustration. You could even be the class representative who recordsdata a category action on behalf of all of those that have been injured in your state or the us Mayer Brown is certainly one of the largest international law firms each by number of lawyers and revenue. Because of the presence of threats within the safety plan course of, the trial court concluded that security plans are not voluntary, and therefore they represent a “deprivation” of family liberty pursuits. Payments might be made only after the courtroom grants last approval of the settlement at a listening to scheduled for May 18. If the court docket approves the deal, payments can be made electronically via PayPal, Venmo or prepaid Mastercards. TikTok’s father or mother company, ByteDance, agreed in February to pay $92 million as part of a class-action payout to settle allegations that it harvested personal data from customers with out their consent.

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[About]

If this were an AITA, I think this would be an ESH. Like this is a fucking nightmare to happen to your property. But I also kinda cringe that she bought a house and then immediately put it on the rental market for $8,500 and didn't vacate the apartment she was obviously paying way less money for (like people are free to make money and manage their money, I get it, but the housing sitch here is real fucking bad so my well of sympathy is low).

But also, scammers gonna scam, I guess?

Fuck Airbnb, goes without saying.

Just...for real, everybody sucks here.

Ireland's privacy regulator is a gamekeeper-turned-poacher

This Saturday (May 20), I’ll be at the GAITHERSBURG Book Festival with my novel Red Team Blues; then on May 22, I’m keynoting Public Knowledge’s Emerging Tech conference in DC.

On May 23, I’ll be in TORONTO for a book launch that’s part of WEPFest, a benefit for the West End Phoenix, onstage with Dave Bidini (The Rheostatics), Ron Diebert (Citizen Lab) and the whistleblower Dr Nancy Olivieri.

When the EU passed its landmark General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), it seemed like a privacy miracle. Despite the most aggressive lobbying Europe had ever seen, 500 million Europeans were now guaranteed a digital private life. Could this really be?

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/15/finnegans-snooze/#dirty-old-town

Well, yes…and no. Despite flaws (Right to Be Forgotten), the GDPR has strong, well-crafted, badly needed privacy protections. But to get those protections, Europeans need their privacy regulators to enforce the rules.

That’s where the GDPR miracle founders. Europe includes several tax-havens — Malta, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Ireland — that compete to offer the most favorable terms to international corporations and other criminals. For these havens, paying little to no tax is just table-stakes. As these countries vie to sell themselves out to giant companies, they compete to offer a favorable regulatory environment, insulating companies from lawsuits over corruption, labor abuses and other crimes.

All of this is made possible — and even encouraged — by the design of European federalism, which lets companies easily shift which flag of convenience they fly. Once a company re-homes in a country, it can force Europeans across the union to seek justice in that country’s courts, under the looming threat that the company will up sticks for another haven if the law doesn’t bend over backwards to protect corporate citizens from the grievances of flesh-and-blood humans.

Big Tech’s most aggressive privacy invaders have long flown Irish flags. Ireland is “headquarters” to Google, Meta, Tinder, Apple, Airbnb, Yahoo and many other tech companies. In exchange for locating a handful of jobs to Ireland, these companies are allowed to maintain the pretense that their global earnings are afloat in the Irish Sea, in a state of perfect, untaxable grace.

That cozy relationship meant that the US tech giants were well-situated to sabotage Ireland’s privacy regulator, who would be the first port of call for Europeans whose privacy had been violated by American firms. For many years, it’s been obvious that the Irish Data Protection Commission was a sleeping watchdog, with infinite tolerance for the companies that pretend to make Ireland their homes. 87% of Irish data protection claims involve just eight giant US companies (that pretend to be Irish).

But among for hardened GDPR warriors, the real extent of the Data Protection Commissioner’s uselessness is genuinely shocking. A new report from the Irish Council for Civil Liberties reveals that the DPC isn’t merely tolerant of privacy crimes, they’re gamekeepers turned poachers, active collaborators in privacy abuse:

https://www.iccl.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/5-years-GDPR-crisis.pdf

The report’s headline figure really tells the story: the European Data Protection Board — which oversees Ireland’s DPC — overturns the Irish regulator’s judgments 75% of the time. It’s actually worse than it appears: that figure only includes appeals of the DPC’s enforcement actions, where the DPC bestirred itself to put on trousers and show up for work to investigate a privacy claim, only to find that the corporation was utterly blameless.

But the DPC almost never takes enforcement actions. Instead, the regulator remains in its pajamas, watching cartoons and eating breakfast cereal, and offers an “amicable resolution” (that is, a settlement) to the accused company. 83% of the cases brought before the DPC are settled with an “amicable resolution.”

Corporations can bargain for multiple, consecutive amicable resolutions, allowing them to repeatedly break the law and treat the fines — which they negotiate themselves — as part of the price of doing business.

This is illegal. European law demands that cases that involve repeat offenders, or that are likely to affect many people, must be fully investigated.

Ireland’s government has stonewalled on calls for an independent review of the DPC. The DPC continues to abet lawlessness, allowing corporations to use privacy invasive techniques for surveillance, discrimination and manipulation. In 2022, the DPC concluded 64% of its cases with mere reprimands — not even a slap on the wrist.

Meanwhile, the DPC trails the EU in issuing “compliance orders” — which directly regulate the conduct of privacy-invading companies — only issuing 49 such orders in the past 4.5 years. The DPC has only issues 28 of the GDPR’s “one-stop-shop” fines.

The EU has 26 other national privacy regulators, but under the GDPR, they aren’t allowed to act until the DPC delivers its draft decisions. The DPC is lavishly funded, with a budget in the EU’s top five, but all that money gets pissed up against a wall, with inaction ruling the day.

Despite the collusion between the tech giants and the Irish state, time is running out for America’s surveillance-crazed tech monopolists. The GDPR does allow Europeans to challenge the DPR’s do-nothing rulings in European court, after a long, meandering process. That process is finally bearing fruit: in 2021, Johnny Ryan and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties brought a case in Germany against the ad-tech lobby group IAB:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/16/inside-the-clock-tower/#inference

And the activist Max Schrems and the group NOYB brought a case against Google in Austria:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/05/15/out-here-everything-hurts/#noyb

But Europeans should not have to drag tech giants out of Ireland to get justice. It’s long past time for the EU to force Ireland to clean up its act. The EU Commission is set to publish a proposal on how to reform Ireland’s DPA, but more muscular action is needed. In the new report, the Irish Council For Civil Liberties calls on the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, to treat this issue with the urgency and seriousness that it warrants. As the ICCL says, “the EU can not be a regulatory superpower unless it enforces its own laws.”

Catch me on tour with Red Team Blues in Toronto, DC, Gaithersburg, Oxford, Hay, Manchester, Nottingham, London, and Berlin!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/15/finnegans-snooze/#dirty-old-town

[Image ID: A toddler playing with toy cars. The cars are Irish police cars. The toddler's head has been replaced with the menacing, glowing red eye of HAL9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.' The toddler's knit cap is decorated with the logos for Apple, Google, Facebook and Tinder.]

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

Weekend links, May 19, 2024

My posts

I’m writing and drafting, but haven’t posted much per se. I have gotten through both a hypomanic episode and a sinus infection; I’ve been doing a lot of gardening and may post some pictures soon.

Reblogs of interest

Alice Munro, Nobel Prize winner and ‘master of the short story,’ dies at 92

Artist lawsuit against AI reaches milestone; discovery phase could unmask hidden practices of 'exploitative Goliaths'

Hot Vintage Lady Bracket: Quarterfinals. Somebody finally said something nasty enough that I need to step back. Eartha Kitt Nation, see it through to the end.  

That said, please enjoy the Diahann Carroll Barbie and back story that I posted. She’s currently up against Lauren Bacall, who I am named after.

(A story I’ve always liked: how Marilyn Monroe showed up for Ella Fitzgerald.)

Cousin Bartók is here to vanquish your bad day, and I needed it.

Also coming to help: This huge cat has been assigned to you. You must accept this situation and find joy in it.

Choices were made for King Charles’ official portrait: “that painting is going to weep the sequel to blood. after he dies charles is gonna crawl outta that thing like sadako”

Eduardo Valdés-Hevia’s photomanipulation art (read: unreality levels of spooky): the folklore of Asturias

Did you have an imaginary friend as a child, and what type? I had imaginary friends that were Type 1, and... well, I told you that story about my haunted childhood house, so... Type 5. 

How old were you when the first Twilight film (2008) came out? Understandably, I was tagged for this: 29 and recapping it. 

“were you alive when britney spears released ‘…baby one more time’? (september 29, 1998)” 42.1% of respondents: No. (19 and downloading it on Napster.)

“how many times will you loop a song if you really like it?” DAYS. (I can go weeks if I have a couple of songs to alternate in loop sessions). No, I did not realize I was on the spectrum until my late 30s, why do you ask.

HOT VIKING SINGLES IN YOUR AREA

AirBNB Host Cat guides you on Appalachian Trail hikes, or else

I think I joined the wrong Khan Academy

A cat being scuncht about it

Quackulets and Flamontagues

Do you have a cleaningsona? Are you a 400 year old vampire?

“I told her that no, I didn’t have a dog, I was starting the Purina Diet again”

The real purpose of the small talk that people hate so much: ritualized “I’m a human too!!” contact calls.

Video

It’s cool that someone drew a cat using musical notes. It’s ASTONISHING that it’s real music and actually delightful.

This restaurant staff wants this orange cat to stop sleeping in the aisle. This orange cat wants food and also two cat beds for himself and his girlfriend. Guess who wins.

Tiktok jams: Counting to 100 in Vietnamese.

Do You Like This Song? #219: “Freedom! '90” and its iconic video. 

The sacred texts

The Big Night Cat

Personal tag of the week

To celebrate orange cats this week, one orange braincell, except that I think the Restaurant Cat and the Trail Guide Cat are the only ones sharing it. 

The father of one of the victims of the Old Montreal [fire] filed an application on Friday for the authorization of a $22 million class-action lawsuit against, among others, the building’s owner and Airbnb. Randy Sears, the father of Nathan Sears, a 35-year-old man who died in the March 16 fire that claimed six other lives, is the plaintiff in the case before the Quebec Superior Court. According to the document presented on Friday, the negligence lawsuit targets the owner of the building, Émile Benamor, the owner of the short-term rental units, Tariq Hasan, who listed several units for rent on Airbnb, as well as Airbnb itself.

Full article

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

"Sascha Jovanovic rented the guesthouse of his Brentwood mansion out on Airbnb in September 2021 to Elizabeth Hirschhorn, and his guest has long overstayed her welcome and has refused to move out of the mansion.

The dispute has become the center of an ongoing lawsuit as Jovanovic looks to boot the squatter, but an LA judge said he has no right to remove the 'tenant.'

Jovanovic, a renowned dentist, rented the Airbnb without it being registered and it has no certificate of occupancy. It also had a shower built without a permit. As such it's not a legal rental and she shouldn't have been charged rent at the start.

A new California law prevents landlords from evicting tenants without a legal reason, and with the facility being an unregistered rental, the legal standing remains murky."

If You Need an Out-of-State Abortion

This advice is intended for those living in states where abortion is illegal, but who have the means to travel to a state where they can safely and legally obtain a clinical abortion.

Keep in mind that in Texas and places with Texas-style anti-abortion laws, citizens are incentivized to sue anyone who helps a pregnant person obtain an out-of-state abortion. This means that if a partner or friend drives you to an appointment, provides transportation to the airport, or pays for part of your travel costs, they may be vulnerable to a lawsuit.

It is possible that, if federal protections are removed, pregnant people who get abortions in another state may also be vulnerable to lawsuits in the near future. For this reason, the advice here is intended to help you protect your privacy and protect yourself from being sued for exercising your right to medical care.

If you live in a place where abortion is illegal or is about to be made illegal, and you have pro-choice friends or family in a place where abortion is protected, I recommend making a plan for what you will do if you need an out-of-state abortion ahead of time. If you do not have connections in a pro-choice location but you do have the means to travel, you can still make a plan in case you need an abortion, but your plan will need to include the cost of a hotel or AirBnB near the location of your clinic.

Keep in mind that same-day abortions are not available at most clinics. Usually, you will have an appointment with a provider either in person or via a telehealth service and will then be given a date for your actual abortion. There may be a wait of several days or weeks between your original appointment and your abortion, especially as clinics in pro-abortion states become overwhelmed by out-of-state patients in the wake of new abortion bans. This may mean making multiple trips, depending on how long your wait time is.

Many clinics do not perform abortions after the first trimester (12 weeks). This is why it is so important to schedule an appointment as soon as possible. Always ask when making the appointment how late the clinic performs abortions to make sure you’ll be able to get the care you need. If a clinic doesn’t perform second trimester abortions, they can usually direct you to a provider who can, but remember that second trimester abortions are more involved and have more risks.

Getting an Out-of-State Abortion

First, know where you will go to get your abortion. If you have pro-choice family or friends in a place where abortion is legal, it makes sense to choose a clinic near them so you have access to free lodging and a support system.

If you do not have an out-of-state connection, you’ll need to choose where to get your abortion based on distance and cost. For example, if you live in Idaho, your nearest options will likely be Oregon and Washington, but Washington may be cheaper.

If you live in a country where abortion is illegal throughout the entire country, see if there is a nearby country where abortion is protected that you can get to easily. Note that for international abortions there may be additional considerations like immigration law, longer wait times, and a higher cost for the procedure.

Second, figure out how much it will cost you to 1.) travel to your destination, 2.) stay there for anywhere from three days to three weeks (or make multiple trips if it’s close enough to your home), and 3.) pay for a clinical abortion at a nearby clinic. Once you have this amount, try to save it up and set it aside in case you ever need it.

It’s a good idea to come up with a cover story, especially if you live in a place with Texas-style anti-abortion laws. If you are planning to stay with family or friends, this is easy – just tell people you’re going to visit loved ones. If you’re not staying with someone you know, look at the location of your clinic and then look for big cities or popular tourist destinations nearby. Have a cover story prepared for when people ask you about the reason for your trip.

Stock up on home pregnancy tests before you need them. I recommend buying at least three tests. Remember, home pregnancy tests have a shelf life of one to three years.

If your period is more than five days late at any point (and you have had sex since your last period), take two pregnancy tests. The reason I say to take two is as a precaution against false negatives. If the tests show different results, take a third test and go with the result of that test. Dispose of the tests as quickly and discreetly as possible. Do not tell anyone you had a positive test.

If you have a positive pregnancy test, immediately contact your clinic to schedule an appointment. If you are worried about being legally prosecuted for getting an out-of-state abortion, schedule the appointment online from a guest login on a public computer (such as those in public libraries) or over the phone from a pay phone.

Be open about where you are traveling, as acting secretive may attract negative attention. If anyone asks for specifics, stick to the cover story you established.

When you arrive at your destination, take photos for social media. Not of your abortion clinic, obviously! Take photos that are consistent with your cover story. If you’re visiting loved ones or traveling with a companion, take lots of selfies with them – if you want to be extra cautious, take photos in different outfits, makeup, and/or hairstyles to make them look like they’re from different days. Do at least one tourist-y thing in a recognizable location and take lots of photos. For example, if your clinic is in southern California, go to the beach and take photos there, on your smartphone, with at least one or two where you are in the photo and clearly recognizable. Go to local restaurants and coffee shops and take photos of your order with the restaurant’s logo visible.

DO NOT take your smartphone with you to the clinic. Even when you have location tracking turned off, your smartphone’s data can be used to determine your location at a given day or time, and law enforcement can often access this information without a warrant. If you need or want to have a phone with you at your appointments, you can get a “burner phone” (a cheap, prepaid phone that you can dispose of after the appointment) at Walmart, Target, Best Buy, or a similar store. If anyone is coming with you to your appointments, they also need to make sure not to bring any smart devices. (If you have a FitBit or Apple Watch, leave that behind as well.)

For an extra precaution, if you have friends or family who are willing to help you out, give them your smartphone on the day of the appointment. Make sure your smartphone has Bluetooth and WiFi turned on. Ask them to take your phone with them to do something fun and tourist-y, like going to a park or museum. Ask them to snap a couple of photos with your phone’s camera. If anyone asks later what you were doing on the day of your appointment, tell them you went to ____ with your friend and have the photos to prove it.

If you don’t have a friend who can babysit your smartphone, or if the above seems needlessly complicated and paranoid (which it may be, depending on your legal situation), leave your smartphone at the place you are staying. Again, make sure Bluetooth and WiFi are turned on so your digital fingerprints are all over your hotel room, not the Planned Parenthood across town.

After your abortion is completed, dispose of your burner phone before leaving to travel home.

After you return home, post the photos from your smartphone on social media. Do not tell anyone about the real purpose of your trip.

In the fight to regulate short-term rentals, New Orleans had a novel idea—it would hold a lottery. The plan was simple: Carve up the city into blocks and use a hand-cranked lottery machine to draw numbers, allowing one rental property per residential block. For the winners, the prize was a license to keep listing their property on sites like Airbnb and Vrbo. For the losers, despair.

But the controversial rules, enacted in March 2023, led to just one lottery before being temporarily halted by a federal judge in August. As the city awaits a final decision, short-term rentals in New Orleans have been left in limbo. The city has said it is no longer accepting applications for the short-term rental licenses it requires hosts to have, nor is it renewing existing ones. And, until the court makes a final ruling, the lottery balls have stopped spinning and the city has halted enforcement of its latest licensing rules.

The limbo stems from an ongoing lawsuit against the city from a short-term rental services company and a group of hosts who were unable to even enter the lottery due to narrow licensing rules.

Like many popular tourist cities across the world, New Orleans has a lot of short-term rental listings. On Airbnb alone, there were nearly 7,000 listings in early September—the majority of which were whole-home or short-term rentals, according to Inside Airbnb, a housing advocacy group that tracks Airbnb data. That’s about one listing for every 54 residents. By comparison, New York City had one Airbnb listing for every 220 residents before it enacted a sweeping law that caused the number of listings to plummet.

The average rent for an apartment in New Orleans is around $1,350 per month, but the average price per night of an Airbnb in the city is $198 per night, according to Inside Airbnb. That’s nearly $6,000 per month if booked each night. Officials say there are nearly 9,000 short-term rental listings in New Orleans, though the city did not answer questions from WIRED about how it tracks that number. More than 200 of those have been added in the past month.

Dawn Wheelahan, an attorney representing those suing New Orleans over the lottery law, disputes the idea that the city has too many Airbnbs. In a court document that uses city data, Wheelahan mapped which blocks would have multiple short-term rental applicants, and found most only had one applicant, while more than 50 blocks had three or four applicants and only one block had five applicants. “I just don’t see that there’s any proliferation” of short-term rentals, Wheelahan claims.

Whole-home rentals—the sort of bland and luxury stays that have become popular for travelers— are the ones perceived to eat away at housing stock, and can be owned by big-time landlords. New Orleans has tried and failed to stamp those out. Last summer, a federal court blocked another New Orleans law intending to ban whole-home, short-term rentals, ruling that it interfered with interstate commerce by barring people from out of state from owning and operating rentals in the city. Under the new, halted rule, people can own out of state, but there must be a host living on the property.

New Orleans wants to see the lawsuit resolved so it can “provide certainty and stability in this area of law for all citizens of New Orleans,” says Ashley Becnel, the chief zoning official with the city’s Department of Safety and Permits. The city maintains that the laws enacted this year “are constitutional” and “[it] is hopeful that the injunction will be lifted in the near future.”

In New Orleans, housing advocates say short-term rentals are hurting local residents—many of whom work in the tourism industry—and pushing them farther from the French Quarter, the city’s hub of bars, restaurants, and clubs. But residents fighting against the proliferation of short-term rentals face a Sisyphean task.

“It’s an industry that requires a lot of work to regulate, because [the short-term rental companies] don’t want to be regulated,” claims Allen Johnson, president of the Faubourg Marigny Improvement Association, a neighborhood group in the district next to New Orleans’ French Quarter. “It’s not really an industry that you can come to some sort of settlement with,” he argues. When one attempt at regulation fails and another is introduced, Johnson adds, there are new plaintiffs ready to challenge them. “It’s starting to feel like a game of whack-a-mole for legislatures.”

And for short-term rental hosts, the confusion and erratic shifts in regulation bring frustration and financial loss. Elisa Cool Murphy, a real estate agent, was operating a small Airbnb attached to her home in New Orleans. She says she entered the lottery for a license this summer before the court put a pause to the law. Like some other hopeful hosts, Cool Murphy was pitted against her own neighbors to compete for a lucrative short-term rental license.

Cool Murphy has a small suite on the property where she lives. She put the place—just a kitchenette, bed, and bathroom—on Airbnb. It’s not the kind of property a full-time tenant would likely lease, she argues. She says she took it off Airbnb temporarily due to the changing licensing requirements. The chaos around the lottery and the subsequent court delays have “needlessly caused a lot of anxiety and stress to people,” she says. Cool Murphy put the little suite back online in October after learning that the latest licensing rules weren’t being enforced.

Smaller short-term rental hosts like Cool Murphy say the New Orleans rules unfairly shut down dependable side hustles. Before the new rules were enacted, Airbnb hosts in New Orleans made a combined $114 million in 2021, with an average host earning over $16,500, according to the company. Airbnb also positions itself as a source of income and tax revenue for hosts and cities; in 2022, the company said it collected and remitted around $23 million in tourism taxes in New Orleans alone.

Airbnb isn’t involved with the current lawsuit, but the ruling would have implications for the company’s hosts. “The majority of hosts in New Orleans share just one home, and one-third say the income from home-sharing has helped them avoid foreclosure or eviction,” Nia Brown, an Airbnb regional policy manager, tells WIRED. “We believe there is a path forward to craft a sensible alternative to the current rules and hope lawmakers will bring all stakeholders, including our host community, to the table to find common ground.”

The saga in New Orleans is the latest example of a city trying to wrest back housing and calm rising rent and property prices. It’s been a problem around the globe ever since companies like Airbnb made short-term rentals a lucrative alternative for landlords.

In Florence, Italy, lawmakers recently voted to ban new short-term rentals in the city center. New York City began enforcing a strict law on short-term rentals earlier this month. The change immediately led some 15,000 short-term rentals on Airbnb to either disappear or convert to long-term listings. The move is seen as a test: If America’s biggest city can stamp out illegal short-term rentals, it sends a loud message for other cities looking to do the same. But the latest languishing court case in New Orleans shows just how difficult it can be for cities to wrap regulations around the unwieldy short-term rental industry. As it sits in limbo, the bookings continue.

Ta-Da! List: Sunday, May 12th

The image was made in Canva; check it out at the [referral] link here!

I share my “Ta-Da! List” every day so everyone gets a daily update and I have a reminder of what I’ve accomplished.

To learn more about “Ta-Da! Lists”, and other ADHD life hacks, check out @adhdjesse’s book Extra Focus: The Quick Start Guide to Adult ADHD.

Abbreviations

- O&T: Opinions & Truth Blog - WGS: The Weekend Game Show - ASO: Artist Shout-Out - IG: Instagram - BMAC: Buy Me a Coffee - TDL: Ta-Da! List

Ta-Da! List

✧ throughout the day: - kept emails manageable - loaded the dishwasher - filled out today’s TDL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✧ on the mobile phone: - Hive/IG: shared today’s ASO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✧ on the bedroom setup: - YouTube: watched: 1. Leeja Miller’s video “How Are MLMs Legal??” 2. The Financial Diet’s videos “An MLM Expert On What Everyone Needs To Know About MLMs” and started watching “Mommy Bloggers, Child Labor, And The Kidfluencer Industrial Complex” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✧ on the office setup: - WGS: gave a human artist, Mesuro Ani, a shout-out on O&T, Tumblr, and other social media; shared a Stream Announcement to The Titans’ Discord, O&T, IG, and other social media; prepared the ASO for tomorrow, May 13th - YouTube: watched: 1. I’m Autistic, Now What?’s video “Let’s Call This Out for What It Is. It’s Bullying.” 2. Leeja Miller’s video “Uncovering K-Pop ‘Slave Contracts’”, “Lawyer Explains Why Taylor Swift is Re-Recording All Her Old Albums & Other T Swift Lawsuits”, “Lawyer Reacts to The Salem Witch Trials”, “Lawyer Reacts to Petty Celebrity Wills”, “LEARN LEGALESE: 25 Words EVERYONE Should Know | Practical Law Ep. 1��, “Depp v. Heard: How Media Frenzies Shape Trials”, “The Truth About Adidas’ Nazi Roots” “The Bloody History of DNA Evidence: Lynda Mann & Dawn Ashworth Murders”, “Is the OJ Simpson Trial the Most Botched Murder Trial in History? | Lawyer Explains”, and “Why Airbnb Keeps Getting Sued (But Isn’t Losing)” 3. Orion Kelly — That Autistic Guy’s short “Neurotypical Society Oppresses Autistic People” 4. gabi belle’s video “Gen Alpha vs Gen Z is so dumb” 5. Zoe Bee’s video “Fascism and the Failure of Imagination” 6. some of Alexander Avila’s video “A People’s History of Gender Ideology” - O&T: shared today’s TDL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✧ chores and miscellaneous: - Food: had coffee for breakfast; had family dinner for lunch; partner cooked stir-fry for dinner - Chores: washed the towels - Movies: watched “Leave the World Behind” on Netflix with partner and… wow!

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Well, these are all the updates I had for today! Thank you for reading!

May every decision you make be *in the spirit of fairness* and may the rest of your day *NOT go to $#!7*!

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Delicious Monsters chapters 43 & 44

Today's review might be difficult for some; reader discretion is advised

Click to see the rest of the snark & image descriptions

Click here for the rest of the series!

Chapter 43

“My mom stayed here once. When you first opened.”

 “I know,” she says with a smile. “I’ve read her book.” 

“Oh? What did you think of it?” 

She tilts her head to the side as if thinking. “She kind of reminds me of my mom.” Grace stares into my eyes.

Once again highlighting the fact that rather than to be a better mother to Daisy, Grace instead turned around and did the same kind of abusive shit her own mother did. On top of the supernatural ghost bullshit. 

Like yes, Grace was abused by her own mum. But that doesn’t give her a right to abuse her own daughter. 

I stand there for a few moments before opening my phone and making a call. She doesn’t answer as usual. But this time, I leave a voicemail.

Chapter 43 summary: Brittany gets the first ticket back to Toronto, since she’s decided that her career is over. However, as she’s sitting in an airport restaurant, Jayden shows up. He explains to her that he’d been trying to get in touch with Grace so that he could do an independent documentary about her. His opinion on Grace isn’t half as much as what Brittany had originally thought, but the fact that he couldn’t tell her about this kind of hurts.

Jayden also said that he’d been trying to stop Torte from getting Brittany’s own mum for an episode. That he’d even threatened legal action. Seems like the thought of a juicy episode would be more than worth the costs of a harassment lawsuit… and the potential of Brittany and Jayden walking away. 

They decide to suck it up and continue on, so the next day, they go to the house. Grace has turned even the Airbnb check-in into this entire fancy thing. Grace greets them by the dock in order to ferry them over, and then shows them around the house. Towards the end of the tour, Brittany mentions the book her mum wrote, and Grace says that Brittany’s mum reminds her of her own mum. Brittany says that she thinks her mum is full of shit, and that amuses Grace. Brittany isn’t sure why she decided to come clean to Grace about what she thinks of her mum… This is the first time Brittany has ever said anything like that before. 

Brittany wakes up in the middle of the night, and decides to go exploring on her own. Despite knowing that she should probably take a camera, she only takes her phone. In the hall, she runs into a girl, who shows her…??? The conservatory room? I don’t know, and I don’t think it matters. In there, the girl is like “Mummy issues? Yeah, I got those too.” Brittany then calls her mum and leaves a voicemail message. 

Chapter 44

“It’s time to cut our losses with this house. If I were a better mom, I would have done this a long time ago.”

Full offence, but if you were a better mum, you wouldn’t have even thought about going back to the house. Ever. 

You would have gone to therapy to talk through about how your brother-in-law molested you constantly when you were a child. 

Branches full of thorns shot from inside the house and wrapped themselves around Mom’s body. She only had enough time to shoot me a panicked look before she was ripped from the ground and tugged inside the house.

The problem with the suspense of this is that the book itself gave away that Grace is alive and well ten years from now. Not only that but she’s still running the Airbnb from the house

So whatever is going to happen, it can’t possibly have been that bad. 

I think we could have been friends for a lot longer, me and King, if we’d had enough time. But we didn’t.

Chapter 44 summary: Daisy obviously feels a lot of immediate relief upon ejecting Ivy from her body. She knows that Ivy isn’t gone-gone, and probably slunk back to the house. 

Grace says that they should leave this house behind, but Daisy says that it’s too late. The house has become a monster now… because of them. Mainly Grace, but Daisy also had a role to play in this as well. Instead, they decide to pack up some things and stay with Helga for a little bit. 

However, upon leaving the guest house, they find that the main house is now overgrown with thorns; butcherbirds are hopping all around the vines. 

As they go to leave, vines shoot out and pull Grace inside. Daisy tries to get inside, but the thorns are too much and she hurts herself. King shows up with a shotgun and blasts a hole through the vines and door, but the house immediately heals itself

Daisy tells him that there isn’t enough time for him to shoot and then jump through, so she’ll have to be the one who goes in. He begs her not to go, and Daisy understands that this is what he’d been trying to protect her against. That the futures he keeps seeing aren’t exactly great. Daisy doesn’t know what to do, but decides that she can’t stand around and let her mum be tortured. So she tells King to blast through the door, and when it breaks apart, she goes inside, leaving King standing outside. 

BBC 0423 12 Mar 2024

12095Khz 0359 12 MAR 2024 - BBC (UNITED KINGDOM) in ENGLISH from TALATA VOLONONDRY. SINPO = 55445. English, ID@0359z pips and newsroom preview. @0401z World News anchored by David Harper. Former US President Donald Trump has criticised a congressional bill to force TikTok's parent company to sell the app or see it banned in the US. Mr Trump, who attempted to ban TikTok in 2020 while in the White House, said the proposal would give unfair advantages to Facebook owner Meta. Lawmakers are debating a measure that would force TikTok parent company ByteDance to sell it by 30 September. President Joe Biden has said he will sign the bill if it passes. Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry has resigned, the chair of the Caribbean group of countries has said, following weeks of mounting pressure and increasing violence in the country. It comes after regional leaders met in Jamaica on Monday to discuss a political transition in Haiti. Mr Henry is currently stranded in Puerto Rico after being prevented by armed gangs from returning home. He had led the country since the former president's assassination in July 2021. A former Boeing employee known for raising concerns about the firm's production standards has been found dead in the US. John Barnett had worked for Boeing for 32 years, until his retirement in 2017. In the days before his death, he had been giving evidence in a whistleblower lawsuit against the company. Boeing said the 62-year-old had died from a "self-inflicted" wound on 9 March and police were investigating. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has been selected to seek a third, successive term in July 28 elections, a senior ruling party official said Monday. The Supreme Court loyal to Maduro upheld a 15-year ban on opposition primary winner Maria Corina Machado and others, prompting the US to consider reimposing sanctions. A South Korean man has been detained in Russia accused of espionage, Russian media report. Baek Won-soon was arrested in the far-eastern city of Vladivostok "at the start of the year", state agency Tass reported, and is now in a Moscow jail. He is believed to be the first South Korean detained in Russia under suspicion of espionage. The price of Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, has hit a new all-time high, above $72,000. The surge is being driven by US finance giants pouring billions into buying bitcoins. The new record represents another dramatic moment in Bitcoin's turbulent history. In recent years Bitcoin crashed in value after many traditional investors dismissed its rise as a speculative bubble. Airbnb says it is introducing a worldwide ban on the use of security cameras inside rental properties. Airbnb users have previously voiced concerns about the use of indoor surveillance cameras. Bananas are set to get more expensive as climate change hits a much-loved fruit, one of the world's top experts from the industry tells BBC News. Pascal Liu, senior economist at the World Banana Forum, says climate impacts pose an "enormous threat" to supply, compounding the impacts of fast-spreading diseases. @0406z "The Newsroom" begins. Backyard fence antenna w/MFJ-1020C active antenna (used as a preamplifier/preselector), Etón e1XM. 250kW, beamAz 315°, bearing 63°. Received at Plymouth, MN, United States, 15359KM from transmitter at Talata Volonondry. Local time: 2259.

A Tenant Stopped Paying Rent and Listed His Landlord's Home on Airbnb. The Landlord Says He's Now Stuck Living in His Van.

A Tenant Stopped Paying Rent and Listed His Landlord's Home on Airbnb. The Landlord Says He's Now Stuck Living in His Van. https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/tenant-stopped-paying-rent-landlord-living-in-car-lawsuit/465285 There's another Airbnb tenant nightmare, this time in Washington. via Entrepreneur: Latest Articles https://www.entrepreneur.com/latest November 14, 2023 at 08:00AM

Elizabeth Hirschhorn, the Brentwood tenant who did not pay rent for her luxury Airbnb rental for 570 days, moved out of the unit on Friday.The move was exactly one month after The Times chronicled Hirschhorn’s contentious tenancy, which began with a cordial stay on Airbnb and ended with her and Sascha Jovanovic, the landlord and property owner, suing each other.“I’m a little overwhelmed, but I finally have my home back,” Jovanovic said. “I had such a peaceful weekend once she left.”Read more: 'The tenant from hell': She refused to pay for her luxury Airbnb for 540 days. She says she has a legal right to stayDuring her stay, which began in September 2021, Hirschhorn said that the lease was extended off Airbnb and that the unit was subject to the Rent Control Ordinance, so Jovanovic would have to evict her if he wanted her to leave. She also argued that she didn't have to pay rent since Jovanovic never obtained an occupancy license for the guesthouse.Jovanovic, who lives on the property, was at the home on Friday being interviewed for a documentary detailing the battle between him and Hirschhorn when he saw three men, who turned out to be movers, walk into the guesthouse.He said he asked why they were there, and they didn’t clearly say why. He suspected she could be moving out but feared it also could be a home invasion, so he called the police.The police arrived, and once all of Hirschhorn's belongings were packed, they escorted her off the property, Jovanovic said.Jovanovic and his attorney, Sebastian Rucci, knocked on the door to confirm she was gone and then entered the guesthouse and found it empty. Within an hour, a locksmith arrived and changed the locks.As of now, it’s unclear whether Hirschhorn moved out permanently, or if she’s planning to return to the property.Jovanovic and Rucci said they hadn’t heard anything from either Hirschhorn or her legal team, so they assumed she had moved out for good. On Saturday, Rucci emailed Hirschhorn’s attorney, Amanda Seward, to figure out the next steps regarding Jovanovic’s eviction lawsuit against Hirschhorn.“My review of the case law is that once a tenant abandons the unit, the unlawful detainer is dismissed. If you wish, I can file the dismissal, or we can file a joint dismissal,” Rucci wrote.Seward replied that they “may have jumped the gun,” according to the email exchange reviewed by The Times.“Ms. Hirschhorn had discussed with me concern over the constant harassment and surveillance, and also the desire to get the things repaired that needed to be repaired. Subject to my discussions with Ms. Hirschhorn, please be advised that you have no authority to change the locks or to assume abandonment of the unit,” Seward wrote. “Further, you have violated the law by entering without permission and changing the locks.”Neither Hirschhorn nor Seward immediately responded to a request for comment.Rucci said he’s planning to drop the unlawful detainer lawsuit, assuming Hirschhorn has moved out for good. But he'll still pursue damages in a separate lawsuit, since he claims Hirschhorn owes roughly $58,000 in unpaid rent. Hirschhorn said she owes nothing since Jovanovic never had a license to rent the unit, and her lawsuit accuses him of multiple forms of harassment and intimidation in attempts to get her to leave the place, which Jovanovic has denied.Hirchhorn’s tenancy became a viral story in the days and weeks after The Times chronicled the saga. News vans posted up outside the home, and paparazzi followed Hirschhorn whenever she left.“Drones were flying above my house every day. It was crazy,” Jovanovic said.Read more: How exactly did the Airbnb ‘tenant from hell’ get away with living rent-free for 540 days?Now, he plans to address the mold damage in the unit, which was an issue during Hirschhorn’s stay that eventually soured their relationship. He also plans to get the necessary permits from the city, which was another issue; Jovanovic never obtained a license to rent the unit, and Hirschhorn

argued in court that he wasn’t allowed to charge rent on a unit he didn’t have a license for.After that, he plans to turn the space into a recreation room for his two adolescent children.“We need to get the bad energy out and turn it back into a happy, family space,” he said.Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

[ad_1] Final up to date Oct 21, 2023 Coinbase trade introduced that it'll delist 5 crypto property from its platform, as they aren't assembly the trade’s itemizing standards.Coinbase is the second top-ranked crypto trade by market cap. In 2012, this trade was based by former Airbnb engineer Brian Armstrong, who's at the moment CEO of this trade. This trade went public in 2021. This 12 months, Coinbase obtained a lawsuit motion by the US Securities and Change Fee (SEC).On 20 Oct 2023, Coinbase trade introduced that it'll delist Crypterium (CRPT), MXC (MXC), Quantstamp (QSP), Ren (REN), TE-FOOD (TONE) tokens from the Coinbase trade.As introduced, the most recent monitoring outcomes confirmed that the talked about crypto property are not assembly the itemizing standards. These talked about tokens is not going to stay out there for buying and selling from 3 Nov 2023. We usually monitor the property on our trade to make sure they meet our itemizing requirements. Primarily based on latest evaluations, we'll droop buying and selling for Crypterium (CRPT), MXC (MXC), Quantstamp (QSP), Ren (REN), TE-FOOD (TONE) on November 3, 2023 at or round 2 PM ET.— Coinbase Property 🛡️📞 (@CoinbaseAssets) October 20, 2023 On the time of writing this text, the full market cap of all talked about crypto property is almost $60.8 million. Briefly, it'll scale back the $60 million buying and selling quantity from the platform.Following this information, the commerce worth of CRPT tokens plunged 20% on the identical day. MXC token confronted solely a 2% worth dump and the REN token commerce worth is down practically 0.7 %. Briefly, we will say that delist information by Coinbase remained unfazed for MXC token & REN tokens.QSP token additionally tanked 19% inside just a few hours of the Coinbase delist announcement.Tone token additionally crashed practically 20% after this unhealthy information. Coinbase, Eire, & EU Not too long ago we reported that the Coinbase trade deliberate to determine its central crypto service operational hub in Eire. If Coinbase succeeds in its plan then will probably be capable of present its crypto providers throughout all of the EU member international locations on behalf of a single crypto licence “MiCA”. Since Q3 of this 12 months, Coinbase trade confirmed its important Inclination towards non-US jurisdictions. As per stories, this trade is attempting to broaden its crypto providers attain in a number of international locations, in order that the corporate can get important diversification.Learn additionally: Ripple CEO says XRP can’t fulfil all needs, so there is space for Bitcoin & other tokens [ad_2]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | Landmark Legal Battle: Airbnb Faces Multi-Million Dollar Copyright Infringement Suit

Landmark Legal Battle: Airbnb Faces Multi-Million Dollar Copyright Infringement Suit — In a groundbreaking legal case, Plaintiff Tamerlane Timur Bey II, the CEO of Beysicair Inc, Inc., a corporation registered in the state of California, has filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Airbnb, Inc., a global hospitality giant headquartered in San Francisco, California. The lawsuit, filed in the…

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