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Comment by lobster45 | Hacker News Reader

I can see absolutely no problems with this business model /sarcasm

Same but without sarcasm. If the deal is known and people are completely aware of the terms... why not? As long as you can ensure nobody is streamed without permission, I'm sure there's a number of people who are cool with it (livestream channels like that existed decade(s?) ago). And on the other side, there's going to be quite a few people interested in watching (big-brother-style reality tv pretty much validated that). And you can be sure some people staying there will try to push the "lewd act" boundary for fun, bringing in more views.

Ultimately, this will be a better advertisement for that hotel than comparable money can buy online.

> And you can be sure some people staying there will try to push the "lewd act" boundary for fun, bringing in more views.

> Ultimately, this will be a better advertisement for that hotel than comparable money can buy online.

Until someone does go too far, and the hotel finds out that they're expected to police these livestreams to ensure certain meeting certain standards that are wide and seemingly arbitrary, and the hotel becomes liable for the behaviour of one of their guests.

Japan has a lot of rules and regulations around what can be seen, produced, etc. for sexuality, just as a small example.

Yup. There was a famous/notorious comedy TV show that livestreamed a guy living in an apartment stark naked, subsisting entirely on what he could win from magazine sweepstakes contests. The TV producers had to hire a video editor 24/7 to keep a little eggplant emoji over his privates.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasubi

I actually remember this show. This was prior to reality TV shows and arguably before movie 'The Truman Show'. I did not had the honor to see this on TV, but I was been told and then checked out some Japanese websites (more like blogs, but before they were been called that) that provide text and photo updates on Nasubi's progress.

A quick search today, here are the articles that archives its history:

* https://www.projectcasting.com/news/nasubi-reality-show/

* https://www.tofugu.com/japan/nasubi-naked-eggplant-man/

If they don't monitor, delay, and edit the result - yes, they will run into issues. If they really stream it live, not just say so for novelty, that's definitely an issue.

One reason why not is that they're experimenting with product-ifying customers in an industry where the majority of profits are made off of 15% of customers. Sure, hotels will pretend like they want money from some rando who's only going to stay one weekend and then never return but the real money comes from regular repeat customers. If the math works out, you could be looking at a future where it's impossible to get a private hotel room without participating in some kind of loyalty program.

Every decent hotel I’ve been to requires identifying information to stay. Once they already have that , what’s the difference in participating in loyalty programs or not, other than one gets a little bit back with rewards?

For the private room loyalty program, you would have to meet a quota, x number of stays in order to make yourself worthwhile to the hotel for them to forego selling you to voyeurs.

You don’t have to extrapolate far to get into dystopian territory. “Get 50% off your rent if you agree to be live-streamed all the time!”

This is also the business model that powers most of the web. “Let us spy on you and get our service for free!” Then brands pop up offering privacy for a price, and the result is that only rich people get to live their lives unsurveilled.

This hotel example seems harmless because it’s mostly a gimmick, but we need to stop this train in its tracks. Privacy should be a human right.

I'm mixed on this because while I 100% agree with you, I also don't really think that it will take off beyond a few novelty places where the Hotel + rooms are specifically designed to accommodate an entertaining stream. Think specific amenities meant to encourage silliness, items in the room for entertainment value that a regular hotel wouldn't use, product placement, and so on.

The number of non-tech people who still bother with a strip of tape over their laptop's webcam is encouraging enough for me to believe that likely a hotel experience like this really will never grow beyond a curiosity for a select group of people who wouldn't mind such an experience, and I think that our paranoia over physical privacy likely will keep this pretty constrained.

Even more - there's bound to be someone testing the boundaries. This is one example. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Ringley was another one. Someone has to either express/define or demonstrate what's extreme for the rest to have an opinion on what's ok.

It will be an issue if this idea becomes a norm. But it's normal that it's an extreme novelty.

I don't understand. If I live stream my life on twitch or youtube or my own servers how is that different? Youtube pays, twitch pays, so effectively they'd be paying me to live stream my life. But it's my choice to do it.

Are you saying it should be illegal to post live video of yourself for money?

I always hate to say this kind of thing but if this is your belief then you are probably quite wealthy. A lot of people would jump on this opportunity and I don't think it should be kept from them because you're concerned about their privacy.

You can make this same argument against labor laws, payday lending regulations and prohibitions on organ donations. "A lot of [poor] people would jump on the opportunity to get paid for their organs and I don't think it should be kept from them because you're concerned about their bodies."

You are correct.

Am I missing something or are you openly advocating businesses should be allowed to take advantage of the poor?

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