Graylark Technologies has added property searches using interior photographs to Raven
Raven now offers police investigators the ability to search for specific properties using photographs of interiors. According to Graylark Technologies, it searches millions of short-term rentals. The editorial team at 404 Media linked two company demonstrations to listings on Airbnb and Vrbo.
Graylark Technologies has added a feature to Raven that allows police investigators to search for specific properties using photographs of interiors. According to the company, it enables searches across millions of short-term rentals worldwide. Daniel Heinen, the head of the company, cites generating leads in investigations into human trafficking and exploitation as a use case; investigators are expected to verify the identified location further.
In a company demonstration, Raven matched a photograph of a washing machine and dryer to a property in Charlotte. The editorial team at 404 Media linked both the name of the result and the photographs to a specific listing on Airbnb. For the second demonstration, featuring a bathroom photograph, the editorial team found a matching listing on Vrbo in Montecito.
The demonstrations suggest that searches use visual features of a room, without location data attached to the input image and without needing to find an identical photograph. However, they do not in themselves establish typical success rates or worldwide coverage. Part of the interface describes a model for a specific city, and earlier documents mention access to a model trained for Miami-Dade County.
Airbnb said it has no relationship with Graylark Technologies and is reviewing the case. According to Airbnb, listing photographs do not contain location data, its terms prohibit automated data collection, and the service uses technical safeguards against such collection. This does not confirm how data is collected for the new feature.
Why it matters
A photograph of a room may give investigators a specific location to verify further. The demonstrations also suggest that removing location data from an image may not prevent a property from being identified if its interior can be compared with photographs in rental listings.
Two audiences, two different impacts
What this means
For individuals
For someone posting a photograph of rented accommodation, the demonstrations suggest that a specific location could be identified even from an image without attached location data.
More practical updates →For a business
For operators of accommodation listing services, this raises questions about the use of photographs from their customers in police searches for properties. Airbnb is already reviewing the case in relation to privacy and rules on automated data collection.
Risks and complianceCheck the original
Event sources
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