Your post is disingenuous. I got the same email and it very clearly lays out that you can opt out of the settings. This was not hidden in some obscure T&C. You can click the opt out link on the email directly and opt out.
a) Saying this program was to fight discrimination, and
b) Saying they weren't collecting new data or doing anything nefarious.
What it left out was clearly explaining what they _were_ doing. I had to parse text carefully and use my own familiarity with the industry to understand that they were going to decide my race based on my photo/name.
Without clearly explaining what the new data use is, you can't expect people to make an informed decision about opting-out.
Here’s the email copy. It very clearly states exactly what this is doing. Not sure what text you need to parse here
“ We’ll only use information you already share
This project will address discrimination that's based on perception—so we’ll use first names and profile photos from hosts and guests to help us understand the perceived race someone might associate with them.
We’ll use it to uncover patterns of discrimination
We’ll use this information to help us understand when and where racial discrimination is happening on our platform. Any insights will be used to help develop new features and policies that create a more equitable experience for everyone.
Information won’t be tied to your specific account
We know your privacy is important, so we analyze trends in bulk and Airbnb won’t associate perceived race information with your account. We won’t use this information in marketing or advertising, and it will only be used for anti-discrimination work.
We consulted with and solicited input from leading civil rights and privacy organizations to guide us
We know how delicate this work is—so we developed this work with support and input from leading civil rights organizations like Color Of Change and Upturn, along with privacy organizations like Center for Democracy & Technology, to make sure our approach is both thoughtful and respectful of your privacy.
Comments
Your post is disingenuous. I got the same email and it very clearly lays out that you can opt out of the settings. This was not hidden in some obscure T&C. You can click the opt out link on the email directly and opt out.
I got the email and it was focused on:
a) Saying this program was to fight discrimination, and
b) Saying they weren't collecting new data or doing anything nefarious.
What it left out was clearly explaining what they _were_ doing. I had to parse text carefully and use my own familiarity with the industry to understand that they were going to decide my race based on my photo/name.
Without clearly explaining what the new data use is, you can't expect people to make an informed decision about opting-out.
Here’s the email copy. It very clearly states exactly what this is doing. Not sure what text you need to parse here
“ We’ll only use information you already share This project will address discrimination that's based on perception—so we’ll use first names and profile photos from hosts and guests to help us understand the perceived race someone might associate with them.
We’ll use it to uncover patterns of discrimination We’ll use this information to help us understand when and where racial discrimination is happening on our platform. Any insights will be used to help develop new features and policies that create a more equitable experience for everyone.
Information won’t be tied to your specific account We know your privacy is important, so we analyze trends in bulk and Airbnb won’t associate perceived race information with your account. We won’t use this information in marketing or advertising, and it will only be used for anti-discrimination work.
We consulted with and solicited input from leading civil rights and privacy organizations to guide us We know how delicate this work is—so we developed this work with support and input from leading civil rights organizations like Color Of Change and Upturn, along with privacy organizations like Center for Democracy & Technology, to make sure our approach is both thoughtful and respectful of your privacy.
You can opt out in your Privacy Settimsg”
Yup. This is exactly what I took it as. Between this and their other data sharing policies I decided to delete my account.
I didn't get that email. This post (and the opt-out link OP shared) was the only reason I knew to turn this off.
Same here. That's bad. I would never have known about this otherwise.