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Couchsurfing
Type of businessC corporation [1][2]
FoundedApril 2003 (New Hampshire non-profit); January 2004 (launch); May 2011 (Delaware for-profit corporation)
HeadquartersSan Francisco, CA, United States
Area servedGlobal
CEOJennifer Billock[3]
Key peopleErik Blachford (Chairman of the Board), Matt Cohler, Casey Fenton, Dan Hoffer
IndustryHospitality service, Hospitality exchange, networking
URLhttp://www.couchsurfing.org/
Current statusThe non-profit Couchsurfing organization was formally closed in December 2011.

Couchsurfing International Inc. is a hospitality exchange and social networking website. The website provides a platform for members to "surf" on couches by staying as a guest at a host's home, host travelers, or join an event.

Couchsurfing International Inc refers to two separate legal entities. The first was founded in 2003 as a non-profit organization, and was liquidated in 2011. Its assets were sold to the private for-profit corporation Better World Through Travel, later renamed Couchsurfing International, Inc.,[1] which defines itself as “a mission-driven for-profit corporation”.[5] As of August 2012, the company has raised $22.6 million in investment capital, while reporting no revenue.[5]

Etymology

Couchsurfing is a neologism referring to the practice of moving from one friend's house to another, sleeping in whatever spare space is available, floor or couch, generally staying a few days before moving on to the next house. The term pre-existed the website in vernacular usage; for example, "Couch Surfer" was the title of a song by Bran Van 3000 written in the 90s.

The company, its website, and the general culture of hospitality exchange it is meant to support are all commonly referred to as "couchsurfing". The "c" and "s" are sometimes capitalized, giving "CouchSurfing". Participants frequently refer to themselves as "couchsurfers" or "surfers". "CS" and "CSer" are used as abbreviations.

Membership and site

Registration is free of charge, but payment of an annual fee is a factor in user access to services. CEO Billock envisions increasing the number of services available only to paid members.[6] Members are asked to provide information and photos of themselves and of the accommodation they offer, if any. More information provided by a member, and other members, may affect the chances that someone will find the member trustworthy enough to be their host or guest. Members looking for accommodation can search for hosts using several parameters such as age, location, and gender.

Homestays are consensual between the host and guest, and the duration, nature, and terms of the guest's stay are generally worked out in advance. No monetary exchange takes place except sometimes for compensation of incurred expenses (e.g. food). It is common practice for guests to seek non-monetary means to show their appreciation, such as bringing a gift, cooking a meal or teaching a skill.

Couchsurfing provides groups where members may seek travel partners or advice. Members organize activities such as camping trips, bar crawls, meetings, and sporting events.

The website features a searchable database of thousands of upcoming events organized by Couchsurfing members.

Demographics

Cities with over 4,000 registered Couchsurfing as of 3 January 2011
Countries with over 500 registered Couchsurfers as of 3 January 2011

As of January 2013, there were over 5.5 million registered profiles at Couchsurfing (all profiles ever created, including duplicate, dormant and deleted profiles).[7] Founder Casey Fenton stated in 2011 that approximately one-third of the profiles registered at that time were active. As of August 2014, Couchsurfing Incorporated states that 400,000 people log-in over a period of one week.[8] According to information on the Couchsurfing site, since 2011 a significant number of fake membership profiles have been created with the intention of inflating membership statistics. In March 2012, 65% of New York City profiles were intentional fakes. The systematic creation of fraudulent membership profiles has continued through August 2014, with numerous locations across the globe registering rates of 50% or more.[9]

As of January 2013, Couchsurfing represented more than 97,000 unique towns in 250 states and territories. Around 20% of Couchsurfers had registered their country as being the United States, with Germany, France, Canada and England also registering large numbers of participants. The city with the largest number of registered Couchsurfers was Paris.[7]

In 2011 statistics, English was spoken by 71% of registered Couchsurfers at a beginner level or better. French (18%), Spanish (17%) and German (15%) were also spoken.[7]

The average age of participants was 28 years of age.[7]

Ambassadors

Active members can nominate themselves to be appointed ambassadors. By nature, Ambassadors spread the word about Couchsurfing and are encouraged to be role-models, exemplifying the Couchsurfing Core Values. In addition to spreading the "Couchsurfing spirit" among members, they may choose to greet new members, help with questions, organize and promote events and are likely to be the first point of contact for members. Their status as an "ambassador" is indicated by an orange flag on their profile. While the ambassador program is laid out as an appreciation program, it is a status that many ambassadors value and strive to obtain. Ex-CEO Tony Espinoza excluded a significant portion of ambassadors from the program in 2013.

Ownership and management

Jennifer Billock, CEO of CouchSurfing since October 2013

Couchsurfing International, Inc is a privately owned for-profit corporation, incorporated in 2011 in the State of Delaware by Casey Fenton and Dan Hoffer.[1] In contrast to some published statements, Couchsurfing is not a Benefit Corporation.[1] As a privately held corporation, Couchsurfing chooses to not publish any financial data, nor information about its stockholders, majority or minority. After the corporation purchased the assets of the previous non-profit organization in 2011, according to company press releases, a $7.6 million first-round investment was raised by Benchmark Capital,[10][11][12] with the ambition of going public at a future date.[13]

In August 2012, Couchsurfing received an additional $15 million in funding from lead investor General Catalyst Partners, with participation by Menlo Ventures, as well as existing investors Benchmark Capital and Omidyar Network. The additional funding brings the company’s total funding raised to $22.6 million.[14]

After replacing Dan Hoffer, Tony Espinoza stepped down as the chief executive of Couchsurfing in October 2013, amid layoffs constituting 40% of employees. Considerations included an $800,000 monthly expenditure rate, which could be difficult to control, considering revenues.[3] He was replaced by interim CEO Jennifer Billock.[3] In August 2014 she was designated permanent CEO by a renewed Board of Directors.

As of 11 August 2014, Couchsurfing’s current Board of Directors includes: Couchsurfing founders Casey Fenton and Daniel Hoffer, Benchmark General Partner Matt Cohler, General Catalyst Managing Partner Joel Cutler, and Couchsurfing CEO Jennifer Billock. Replacing founder Fenton as Executive Chairman is former travel site Expedia CEO Erik Blachford.

History

Conception

The Couchsurfing project was conceived by Casey Fenton in 1999,[15] according to Fenton's account. The idea arose after finding an inexpensive flight from Boston to Iceland. Fenton randomly e-mailed 1,500 students from the University of Iceland asking if he could stay. He ultimately received more than 50 offers of accommodation. On the return flight to Boston, he began to develop the ideas that would underpin the Couchsurfing project. He registered couchsurfing.com the same year.

Fenton developed the code intermittently over the next few years.[15] The site was launched with the cooperation of Dan Hoffer, Sebastien Le Tuan, and Leonardo Silveira[15] as a beta in January 2003, although none of these except Fenton was a member of the original board of directors. The project became a public website in January 2004. Former CEO Hoffer stated that when Couchsurfing first started, he made sure to write up a contract between Fenton and himself that detailed what would happen if CouchSurfing were to ever go for-profit, as he suspected it one day would.[16]

Initial growth of the site was slow. By the end of 2004 the site had just over 6,000 members. In 2005, growth accelerated and by the end of the year, membership stood at just under 45,000.[7] As of October 2011, shortly following its privatization, Couchsurfing had over 3 million active and inactive members (Fenton stated the number of active members was approximately one million) [citation needed] and was the most popular free accommodation site.[17] As of October 2011, the site had an Alexa Global Traffic Rank of 1,729, but by September 2014 had descended to 3,178.[18]

2006 database loss and relaunch

In June 2006, the project experienced a number of computer problems resulting in much of the database being irrevocably lost.[19] Due to the volume of critical data that had been lost, Casey Fenton was of the opinion that the project could not be resurrected. On 29 June 2006, he sent an e-mail to all members: "It is with a heavy heart that I face the truth of this situation. Couchsurfing as we knew it doesn't exist anymore."[20]

Fenton's e-mail was met with vocal opposition to the termination of the project and considerable support for its recreation. A Couchsurfing Collective was underway in Montreal at the time and those in attendance committed to fully recreating the original site, with users to re-enter their profile data. "Couchsurfing 2.0" was announced early in July 2006, with the intent to be operational within 10 days. The initial implementation of Couchsurfing 2.0 actually launched after only four days with the current Couchsurfing slogan "Participate in Creating a Better World, One Couch At A Time". Since the site relaunch, the project has received international media coverage.

Couchsurfing collectives

From 2006 through 2011, development of the website was run in large part by Couchsurfing Collectives: events which may last days or weeks, bringing groups of Couchsurfers together in a chosen city, to develop and improve Couchsurfing. Collectives have taken place in Montreal, Vienna, New Zealand, Rotterdam, Thailand, Alaska, Costa Rica and Istanbul.[21] The collectives ended with the privatisation of Couchsurfing in 2011, given that the use of volunteer labor is forbidden in commercial enterprises by the US federal government.[22]

August 2014 security breach

According to the Couchsurfing Community Support Team, on 15 August 2014 “the part of Couchsurfing’s system that sends email to members was breached and an email was sent to approximately 1 million members.” [23] According to a CS Ambassador and IT consultant, the email contained malicious code, an XSRF attack (a Cross-site request forgery), including “embedded on-site action calls loaded as an image”,[24][25] which would have erased reader’s membership data and deleted member profiles. By design or by accident, the action calls were deactivated in the original code. Couchsurfing censored some posts on the site referring to the incident and generally refused to explain how the breach was made.[24][26]

Safety and criminal activity

Given the nature of hospitality networks, based on inviting strangers into private homes, safety was a primary concern.

Safety Mechanisms

There are mechanisms Couchsurfing Inc claimed increase safety and trust, which were previously all visible on member profiles for potential hosts and guests:

  1. An optional credit card verification system, verifying addresses with a postcard, was abandoned in November 2014. The present system no longer verifies addresses, but consists exclusively of an annual payment made with a credit card or Paypal account. The name on the credit card need not correspond to the account name. Journalists were able to "create a profile with a fake name, paid for the verification with a credit card with a different name and was instantly given a "verified" account that comes with a green tick next to the profile." [27] Couchsurfing CEO Jennifer Billock "refused to answer questions about how this process made a profile superior to one that was not verified." [27] The verification system is widely viewed as heavily flawed, often ignored with less than 5% of members being verified.[28] No background safety check is ever performed.
  2. Personal references, which hosts and guests have the option to leave after having used the service to comment on what their experience with person they are leaving a reference for was like. It is also possible to leave neutral or negative references if it is deemed appropriate.[29] Negative references are sometimes removed by the site when they are deemed to have been done in a retaliatory or unfair manner.[30] Members tend to rely heavily on references when trying to determine whether another user is "safe" or not.
  3. A personal vouching system was discontinued in November 2014.[31]

Couchsurfing states that "all members are responsible for their own safety".

Then CEO Tony Espinoza stated in 2013 that none of the three primary safety mechanisms were reliable, and that sexual abuse, although certainly under-reported, was shockingly prevalent, including among Couchsurfing ambassadors.[32][citation needed]

Citing privacy concerns, Couchsurfing Inc does not comment on individual cases of Couchsurfing-related criminal activity.[citation needed] Ex-CEO Tony Espinoza stated in 2013 on the company website that "CS will continue to cooperate with all governmental subpoenas in accordance with the law."[citation needed]

2009 Leeds incident

On 5 March 2009 in Leeds, UK, a man threatened with death and raped a woman from Hong Kong who stayed at his place through the Couchsurfing project.[33] He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.[34]

2012 Marseille incident

In July 2012, a Couchsurfing host admitted to French police that through a specially-constructed peephole he filmed and spied upon showering female students he hosted, treating their soap with acid to provoke itching, and drugging their food with tranquillisers, sexually assaulting them in their sleep. Upon awakening, due to the drugs, they had no memory of the events.[35] Couchsurfing public relations personnel asked Couchsurfing Ambassadors to not comment to the press concerning these events.[citation needed]

2013 Lisbon incident

On 26 March 2013, Portuguese police arrested a Couchsurfing host on rape charges.[36]

2013 Chicago Ambassador incident

In 2013, "a popular host in Chicago and a CouchSurfing 'Ambassador'" was excluded from Couchsurfing.com after a considerable number of women complained of his inappropriate behaviour. The case underlines the limitations in the site's safety measures, the excluded member having previously obtained special trusted status on the site.[37]

2013 Beijing and Shanghai incidents

A person "posing as a couch surfer" was arrested in the Jing'an District of Shanghai on 26 December 2013 after stealing goods from various hosts in Beijing and Shanghai.[38]

2013 Oslo, Norway incidents

A British mother of two was drugged and raped while staying with a 37-year-old couchsurfing host, who had been previously convicted of rape. The police also investigated abuse of the children, but this could not be proven [39]

2013 and 2014 Padua, Italy incidents

At first confined to house arrest, a Padua police officer was taken into custody 29 March 2014 after evidence brought prosecutors to suspect his sexual violence was not limited to two known cases, and after he was discovered still seeking new contacts through social media, in defiance of a legal injunction. He is suspected of drugging and raping multiple victims encountered through the Couchsurfing website. A previous complaint had been filed with Scotland Yard by an American couchsurfer studying at Oxford.[40][41]

2014 Christchurch, New Zealand incidents

A 35 year old male Couchsurfing.org host was arrested on 5 November 2014 and charged with drugging and sexually violating a male couchsurfer in May 2014 and sexually violating another male couchsurfer in September 2014. There are additional charges of theft and making an intimate visual recording.[42]

Controversy

2011 incorporation

Couchsurfing International Inc. was formerly a Nonprofit organization registered in the U.S. state of New Hampshire.[43][44]

In August 2011, Couchsurfing announced its change of status to a for-profit corporation.[45] Couchsurfing International Inc refers to two separate legal entities. The first was founded in 2003 as a non-profit organization, and was liquidated in 2011. Its assets were sold to the private for-profit corporation Better World Through Travel, later renamed Couchsurfing International, Inc.,[1] which defines itself as “a mission-driven for-profit corporation”.[5] A $7.6 million investment was raised by Benchmark Capital,[10][11][12] with the ambition of going public.[13] The site had previously been financed by donations from members and revenue from the voluntary identity verification service. Second and third rounds of investors contributed another $15 million.

The announcement that Couchsurfing had become a for-profit corporation created a backlash from the core members.[46][47] Even if not many, they were the most active members, who perceived the change of status as a betrayal. A protest group within Couchsurfing was formed entitled "We are against CS becoming a for-profit corporation" as a response.[48][49] The group members see Couchsurfing's source code and user database as community-created and say that they should not be used for profits.[49]

Terms of Use controversy

In September 2012 Couchsurfing updated its terms of use. These were criticized by many members of the community. The German Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, Peter Schaar, publicly criticized the terms of use and informed the US Federal Trade Commission about the serious shortcomings in the Terms of Use.[50] Schaar has stated that these terms would be inadmissible under German and European data protection law. "Under the new Terms of Use, by uploading contents such as news, photos and personal data, the members grant the company Couchsurfing a full and irrevocable license to a quasi unlimited use of those contents. Moreover, in the Privacy Policy, the company reserves the right to share data with third parties and to change the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy at any time, without having to provide specific notice to the members about any changes."

The September 2014 Couchsurfing Inc. Terms of Use stated, "you hereby grant us a perpetual, worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free and fully sublicensable license to use, reproduce, display, perform, adapt, modify, create derivative works from, distribute, have distributed and promote such Member Content in any form, in all media now known or hereinafter created."

The Couchsurfing Terms of Use have been changed since[51] to address controversy. [citation needed]

Rollout of the Place Pages and site-wide censorship

In December 2012, major changes were made to the Couchsurfing website when the Place Pages system was instituted.[52] Individual cities pages were replaced with Place Pages. This was unpopular among many users. The Place Pages were felt to have many user security and safety issues, geographical and technical problems, be difficult to navigate, and to encourage misuse of the Couchsurfing website. Different city's Place Page message boards began to have posts violating community standards, like requests for dates, scams, spam, and open couch requests and this annoyed many people. At the same time, local user-generated city "wiki" info pages, were deleted without any consultation.[53]

People unhappy with the Place Pages voiced their concerns on group message boards and made attempts to speak with the company directly. In late February 2013 a prominent ambassador in Chicago was banned from the site by having his profile and posts deleted.[54][unreliable source?] In early March 2013, a well-known ambassador in Berlin was banned as well. The banning of the two ambassadors, in addition to a third person, was perceived by their supporters as being motivated by the company's desire to silence its internal critics and thus was the result of censorship. The company maintains that the two users violated the company's Terms of Use and that the deletions were not the result of censorship.[55][56][57] In the history of Social Networking, Couchsurfing has often been cited for what not to do. As of January 2014, there has been an ominous lack of press or social media engagement (relative to users and valuation) since reorganization in 2013.

On the Berlin, Chicago, and other message boards there was a loud outcry against the bannings and perceived censorship. Some users felt that Couchsurfing, as a for-profit company, would no longer uphold the open culture of hospitality exchange and decided to join BeWelcome, a non profit European website, either exclusively or in addition to being a member of Couchsurfing.

Tony Espinoza, the CEO of Couchsurfing has repeatedly and publicly stated that Couchsurfing ambassadors are not allowed to mention BeWelcome on their Couchsurfing profiles or during meetings,[58] as "BW’s utility is dubious. I really don’t believe anyone invested in promoting it is serving travelers." [59]

Hiding and deletion of the Tips section

During a partial overhaul of the website in 2012, the original Tips section - a vast set of pages instructing new members on how to integrate into the community by teaching about Couchsurfing values and how to best search for safe hosts - was no longer referenced on the website and was only accessible by manually typing its address in a browser's address bar. Instead, the new Getting started page only mentioned key elements about couchsurfing (create a profile, explore your city, surf the world and list your couch) with a brief description for each.

Over time additional pages were added, including certain safety tips, but a lot of the original information was not transferred.

At the migration to the new website in November 2014, the original Tips page was completely deleted.

Limiting of group settings

With the coming of the new website in November 2014, Couchsurfing informed members that certain group options would not be available in the future, such as moderator-approved membership and discussions only being visible to members that have actually joined the group in question, since there was allegedly little demand for these features and they demanded additional programming. This was of particular concern to groups that have often been the subject of belligerent attacks from some members, such as women-empowering groups, or other groups that are politically-sensitive.

Couchsurfing stated it would not consider implementing these options in the near future. However, management announced an exception would be made for the management-controlled ambassadors discussion group being accessible only to moderator-approved members.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "State of Delaware corporate entity search - enter "couchsurfing"".
  2. ^ "Deep link to corporate records".
  3. ^ a b c http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/10/tony-espinoza-steps-down-as-ceo-of-couchsurfing-jen-billock-steps-up-as-interim-as-startup-lays-off-staff-doubles-down-on-mobile/
  4. ^ Couchsurfing.org on Alexa.com Retrieved 2014-04-16
  5. ^ a b c "TechCrunch Article". Retrieved 9 April 2013.
  6. ^ "A rough ride to profit for CouchSurfing". Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Statistics". Couchsurfing. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
  8. ^ "Job Openings". Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  9. ^ "Robot Creating Fake Profiles". Retrieved 2 September 2014.
  10. ^ a b "B Corporation". B Corporation. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  11. ^ a b Tweney, Dylan (24 August 2011). "Benchmark plops down $7.6M to make Couchsurfing into a for-profit". VentureBeat. Retrieved 11 September 2011.
  12. ^ a b "Couchsurfing Moves from NGO to B-Corps: Bona fide or Bogus?". Triplepundit.com. 28 September 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  13. ^ a b "El jefe de Couchsurfing asegura que su objetivo es salir a Bolsa". El País. 13 September 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  14. ^ "TechCrunch Article". 22 August 2012. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
  15. ^ a b c "Founders & Board of Directors". Couchsurfing. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
  16. ^ Txakeeyang, Lindsey (22 January 2011). "Couchsurfing Co-founder and former CEO Daniel Hoffer Discusses Leadership at the Stanford Graduate School of Business". The Daily Dish. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  17. ^ Baker, Vicky (22 January 2011). "How to stay with a local". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
  18. ^ "Couchsurfing.org Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  19. ^ Fenton, Casey (28 June 2006). "Help! - Innodb and MyISAM accidental DROP DATABASE - 112 tables gone forever?". forums.mysql.com. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
  20. ^ Fenton, Casey. "The Perfect Storm". Couchsurfing. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
  21. ^ "Couchsurfing Collectives". Couchsurfing. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
  22. ^ "elaws - Fair Labor Standards Act Advisor". United States Department of Labor. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  23. ^ "Official answer". Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  24. ^ a b "Security Breach". Retrieved 19 August 2014. Cite error: The named reference "Security Breach" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  25. ^ "IT security consultant". Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  26. ^ "site improvement email from CS". Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  27. ^ a b "HK tourists' nightmare at Italian Couchsurfing host's home shows how travel sites can be a path to danger". Retrieved 17 February 2015.
  28. ^ "Get Verified". Retrieved 18 February 2015.
  29. ^ "References FAQ". Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  30. ^ "One Couch at a Time". Couchsurfing. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
  31. ^ "What's changed on Couchsurfing?". couchsurfing.com. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  32. ^ "Tony Espinoza". Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  33. ^ "Man accused of raping woman he met on couchsurfing.com website". The Daily Telegraph. 11 August 2009. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
  34. ^ "Leeds couchsurfing.com rapist jailed". Yorkshire Evening Post. 29 October 2009. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
  35. ^ "Il piégeait les étudiantes qu'il hébergeait". Europe 1. 17 July 2012. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  36. ^ "Turista de couch surfing violada em Lisboa". Público. 27 June 2013. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  37. ^ "Couchsurfing: A Place For a Free Couch, and Free Harassment". TravelersToday. 4 February 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  38. ^ "Foreign couch surfer arrested for stealing from hosts". ecns. 17 March 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  39. ^ "Tar de voldtekt alvorlig i Norge?". Nettavisen. 18 November 2014. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  40. ^ "Couchsurfing, carabiniere arrestato per violenza sessuale". Il Mattono. 30 March 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  41. ^ "Stordì e violentò due ragazze straniere, arresti domiciliari per il carabiniere". Corriere del Veneto. 29 March 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  42. ^ "Couchsurfer Drug and Sex Assault Charges". The Press. 5 November 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  43. ^ "Business Entity". New Hampshire Department of State. 25 August 2011.
  44. ^ "Terms of Use". Couchsurfing. 13 July 2011.
  45. ^ Perlroth, Nicole (24 August 2011). "Non-Profit CouchSurfing Raises Millions In Funding". Forbes. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
  46. ^ "After going for-profit, CouchSurfing faces user revolt". GigaOm. 1 September 2011. Retrieved 17 November 2011.
  47. ^ "We are against CS becoming a for-profit corporation". Retrieved 17 November 2011.
  48. ^ "After going for-profit, Couchsurfing faces user revolt". gigaom. 1 September 2011.
  49. ^ a b "Users Revolt After Hippie Couchsurfing Site Goes Corporate Users Revolt After Hippie Couchsurfing Site Goes Corporate". Gawker. 2 September 2011.
  50. ^ "Couchsurfing without data protection".
  51. ^ "Terms of Use".
  52. ^ https://support.couchsurfing.org/entries/22546803-Place-Pages-come-to-Couchsurfing Retrieved 18 March 2013
  53. ^ http://couchsurfingcontroversies.wordpress.com/2013/03/15/cs-controversy-the-place-pages-and-banned-ambassadors/ Retrieved 18 March 2013
  54. ^ http://kingsofcouchsurfing.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-couchsurfer-no-more.html Retrieved 18 March 2013
  55. ^ http://www.couchsurfing.org/news/cs-organization/member-removal-is-couchsurfing-censoring-the-community-by-removing-outspoken-members/ Retrieved 18 March 2013
  56. ^ http://www.couchsurfing.org/news/cs-organization/member-removal-is-couchsurfing-censoring-the-community-by-removing-outspoken-members/ Retrieved 27 March 2013
  57. ^ http://couchwiki.org/en/Couchsurfing_censorship Retrieved 18 March 2013
  58. ^ Couchsurfing ambassadors group: Tony Espinoza (CEO) Discussion - Week 2
  59. ^ Couchsurfing ambassadors group: Tony Espinoza (CEO) Discussion - Week 3
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