Really happy to see this new article out now with @floreani.bsky.social. We offer an in-depth analysis of major trends in RentTech / Landlord Tech markets and show how they are shaping the financialisation of housing, assetisation of data, and moral economic evaluation of renters.
"If policymakers wish to genuinely reduce harm to young people online, they must take seriously the task of challenging models based on behavioural advertising, profiling and problematic algorithm-driven feeds."
My latest for The Guardian on the news that the ban, unsurprisingly, isn't working
horrified and completely unsurprised is how I've felt the entire time researching (and living) this, for sure
the good folks at @drwaus.bsky.social have launched an AI harms register! they're collecting stories from people in Australia who have experienced AI-related harms to track the way AI is causing harm, and to pressure the govt to act. submit here: digitalrightswatch.org.au/ai-harms-reg...
I feel like Sir Ian McKellan breaking down over the profound loneliness of filming The Hobbit in a CGI booth. I don't want to talk to robots, I want to collaborate with people.
"Within the refusal of tech, we can find alternative imaginations of the future. Not anti-progress, only refusing a particular, narrow idea of what “progress” should look like."
The average landlord being like why do these rentoids get mad at me when I feel entitled enough to pass on the full cost of my investment to them (whilst simultaneously increasing the cost of housing and also benefitting from massive tax discounts purely because I own multiple homes)
what I will say though is that charli xcx's album is a great musical pairing to the book - the kind of thing you can listen to accompany the text and feel more from both
making healthcliff white and a hero and making nelly a villainous person of colour was certainly A Choice
the only way Emerald Fennell's "Wuthering Heights" makes sense to me is if it's read as deranged Heathcliff fan fiction
and if you're a property manager and use an online application platform or property management app in your work - now's a great time to scrutinise the tech you're using, get in contact with them, and ask them what they're doing to make sure that they have proper security controls are in place
if you're a renter and have had to use an online application platform or a property management app - now's a great time to reach out to your property manager, link them this article, and ask them what they're doing to make sure that the tech they're using is keeping your data secure
On the platforms used by real estate agents for renters, documents are exposed and accessible without any form of login, according to research.
I was able to view applications and lease agreements among other docs exposed. Most of the platforms didn't respond. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
This is off the back of reporting from @joshtaylor.bsky.social. Also big kudos to the anonymous security researcher who discovered these vulnerabilities and - at no small personal risk - raised the alarm with the companies, the OAIC and later, the media.
News came out today of serious security vulnerabilities in seven popular Australian ‘RentTech’ platforms, leaving millions of documents containing renter personal information exposed. Renters often have no choice but to use these apps in order to secure housing.
I wrote about it for the Guardian:
rent tech platforms looking at the hoards of renter data they collect like
"An analysis of seven rent platforms ... revealed millions of leasing documents could be accessed by threat actors."
Thanks to negligent privacy practices, it is easy to access troves of highly sensitive information stored on rental management platforms www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
"Across the country, renters are living in properties with no insulation, poor sealing, broken or inadequate fans or no cooling options at all. Others technically have air conditioning, but they are in such extreme rental stress they can’t afford to turn it on."
'my apartment is my friend' because it gives me those sweet rent payments
lmaoooooooo very good
far less jogging and pared back dancing but honestly, yeah! I was super impressed with his voice and energy
had to laugh at the Gen Xers around me at the david byrne gig getting excited about the anti-fascist and revolutionary spirit as footage of police and protest played behind 'Life During Wartime'. SUSAN I heard your pre-show chat, the only thing you're protesting is threats to negative gearing
ahhh yes I didn't go down this line, but glad you enjoyed it anyway, thanks kristin :)
brilliantly spicy take on ai and automation from the always on point @floreani.bsky.social
thank you linda ☺️
get in girlies, we're talking surveillance! we're talking the fantasy of automation propped up by humans! we're talking unfulfilled promises of tech to reduce household labour! we're talking funwashing of robots made for warfare!
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has begun spot compliance audits, checking that real estate businesses are properly applying their privacy policies www.cyberdaily.au/digital-tran... cc @floreani.bsky.social
hey Victorian renters! if you've used 'RentTech' (think online application platforms, rent payment apps, property management portals), please spend ~5 minutes to share your experience in this survey to contribute to important @cprc-research.bsky.social research: cprc.limesurvey.net/594888?lang=en
“Each of these acts may be insignificant, but an orientation toward friction is really the only defense we have against the life-annihilating suction of technologies of escape.” www.thecut.com/article/broo...
Bendigo Writers Festival, Meanjin, now Adelaide Writers … powerful vested interests would rather destroy the cultural institutions they are supposedly responsible for than allow certain voices to be heard