Just a shout out to all Airbnb hosts out there: for god's sake DON'T require anyone who wants to book your place to upload a government ID with sensitive information onto a server. Seriously.

The simple fact that Airbnb thought it a good idea to do this is deeply disturbing. Or not really, I guess, because they are a business, and information is money. But still. I don't care that my information is not being shared with the host - that makes it even more useless. I will gladly share all required information with the host offline once I arrive. Sending sensitive information by email is an issue - it's even a bigger one when you're asking me to store that information on a server, waiting to be hacked. Can you say identity theft waiting to happen? I mean for crying out loud, if Equifax can get hacked, how can Airbnb think they are not at risk?

And that's overlooking the other question: what does Airbnb do with my info? I don't know how much, if anything, has changed since this article was written, but I'm pretty sure the concerns mentioned are still current.

So, Airbnb hosts: I completely understand that you want to be safe. I do too. This is why both you and I can get verified in less invasive and unsafe ways. This is why we all get reviewed. You can even friend me on Facebook if you want. Just don't require government ID because it doesn't make any sense.