To Airbnb is human

Hoping to stave off a death sentence in its largest American market, the home sharing service Airbnb has finally agreed to institute major reforms and disclose details of its New York City operations. Gov. Cuomo should grant a reprieve — vetoing a bill that would kill the company, and signalling to other businesses in the so-called sharing economy that New York is friendly terrain.

Using the internet to match people who want to rent out rooms or full homes for a few days with visitors looking for a cheap place to stay, Airbnb has built a global network in 34,000 cities, a third of them in the U.S. It is everywhere but Crimea, Iran, Sudan, Syria and North Korea. Governor, New York City should not join that list.

In this exceedingly high-rent city, Airbnb is a welcome innovation that lets New Yorkers earn some extra pocket money and encourages tourism, particularly outside Manhattan.

But the platform hasn’t merely enabled regular renters or owners who use the service now and then to make ends meet; it has also facilitated a proliferation of full-fledged illegal hotels.

That’s an abuse that demands transparency and enforcement — yet for years, Airbnb played coy. It wouldn’t ban people from renting out more than one home, letting hustlers illegally warehouse several apartments. They played a secretive game with their usage statistics.

This imperiousness essentially dared lawmakers to institute the now-imminent crackdown.

In June, Airbnb got flattened by a state bill that would give teeth to existing restrictions by making it unlawful to advertise rentals of 30 days or less in apartment buildings.

Fines would be punishing: $1,000 for the first time, $5,000 for the second violation and $7,500 for every additional violation.

Everyone and her sister — elected officials, hotel unions, the real estate lobby — is pushing Cuomo to sign it. He should use the veto pen instead.

Airbnb played a cynical game, but it is, on balance, a boon to New York. New concessions, outlined by the firm in a Wednesday Daily News OpEd, will tilt the balance further in its direction.

The company has promised that starting on Nov. 1, all will be limited to renting a single home. Rentals in public housing will be banned and fees in rent-stabilized apartments will be capped to prevent profiteering. And it has released detailed, unfiltered data showing that about half of rentals in the city are shares — most legal. Airbnb has finally done the right thing. Now it’s Cuomo’s turn.