Summarizing Today’s Real Estate Tea Spill
The Too-Much-Info Tangle
• Atlas Data Privacy Corp. has flung the glove down, casting major shade on Redfin, Zillow, Austin First Mortgage and Rocket Mortgage, with a drama-inspiring accusation.
• The claim? A far too revealing disclosure of home addresses and unpublished phone numbers for judges, police officers, prosecutors and their families. An obvious privacy no-no.
Extra, Extra! No Need for Hide-and-Seek
• The case further alleges these details were posted online without consent, practically inviting any weirdo with a smartphone to find out where hard-working justice professionals live and sleep.
• Wondering about the source of the leaks? The blame goes to third parties improperly given this super secret info by the real estate companies. Talk about loose lips sinking ships.
Golden-Gate-Gate? Class-Action Potential
• No petty squabble, this case has class-action potential, enabling others with similar complaints to turn one beef into a buffet of collective dispute.
• Habeeb Lateef and Jerod Brown – the guys behind Atlas, believe that the accused real estate companies have wide-reaching fingers in the privacy pie across the entire land.
Leaning Tower of Lawsuits
• As if this isn’t enough trouble, Zillow and Redfin are also facing the wrath of National Fair Housing Alliance. Apparently, their algorithms have been steering people towards neighborhood biases. Someone please get these algorithms a good book on tolerance!
Last Minute Add-On: Hide Your Home, Hide Your Number
• Teensy advice to round off for all my puzzled homeowners: It may well pay to keep schtum about your home and your digits. Wouldn’t want them popping up as the newest celeb in the 7 PM drama slot!
Closing Take
And now, the moment you’ve all been eagerly scrolling for – the hot take. Get ready for a spicy mouthful! The real estate realm, it seems, is metamorphosing into an exciting plot of reality television, complete with salacious scandals and legal lunges. Aren’t we riveted? While we’d all relish a bit of playful banter over our morning coffee, the grand enigma here is how these hefty privacy laws got lost in translation. Someone cue the reality check for these companies who’ve seemingly mistaken residential directories for explosive hit-lists. Stakes are high, and it’s time for Big Real Estate to step up their game before they turn ‘House Hunters’ into an all too literal affair. And for anyone confused about whether it’s time to play moral compass to their algorithms – the answer is a resounding ‘duh’. If privacy were a property, it seems our real estate giants have misplaced the keys. Time for a locksmith, anyone?
Original article: https://www.inman.com/2024/02/14/costar-zillow-re-max-among-118-firms-sued-by-law-enforcement/
