US District Court Affirms Fourth Amendment against New York City Ordinance that Would Have Required Airbnb and Home Away to Disclose Large Amounts of Personal Data

Abstract

The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees the ‘right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures.’ The Fourth Amendment is violated when a search or seizure is found to be unreasonable. A New York City Ordinance requiring home-sharing platforms to hand in monthly records to the municipality containing personal information of the platforms’ users is an unreasonable search and seizure within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment.

Keywords: US Fourth Amendment, privacy, NYC, Airbnb, smart cities