CFA Testifies in Maryland Legislature -- Pass Ban on Algorithmic Rent Price Fixing
CFA Director of AI & Privacy Ben Winters testified in the Maryland Legislature's Judicial Proceedings Committee in support of a ban on algorithmic price fixing using nonpublic data.
Algorithms increasingly mediate critical determinations for Marylanders – housing eligibility, hiring decisions, credit rate determinations, what content they’re shown, and more. This is often done with no transparency or choice for consumers, and to the detriment of their opportunities and bank accounts.
In the past several years, as reporting and lawsuits by the Department of Justice and Attorney General Brown illustrate, major property management companies and landlords conspired to keep rent prices and terms artificially high by sharing non-public data with the same third party companies – leading to unfair terms for over 100,000 Marylanders.
Jurisdictions have already mobilized to prohibit these actions – similar measures were passed in Philadelphia and San Francisco last fall, and have been introduced in California, Colorado, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia this term.
This bill is simple, well-tailored, and will address this illegal and immoral behavior while allowing for rental prices to reflect a competitive market.
