samantha floreani

Real estate agents in Australia using apps that leave millions of lease documents at risk, digital researcher says Exclusive: ‘This is a blatant and disturbing disregard for the law and for people’s security,’ digital rights advocate says

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

Real estate agents in Australia using apps that leave millions of lease documents at risk, digital researcher says Exclusive: ‘This is a blatant and disturbing disregard for the law and for people’s security,’ digital rights advocate says

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

Real estate agents in Australia using apps that leave millions of lease documents at risk, digital researcher says ‘This is a blatant and disturbing disregard for the law and for people’s security,’ digital rights advocate says

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...

Real estate agents in Australia using apps that leave millions of lease documents at risk, digital researcher says Exclusive: ‘This is a blatant and disturbing disregard for the law and for people’s security,’ digital rights advocate says

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.

Why should renters like me have to trade away our privacy just to get a roof over our heads? | Samantha Floreani The rise in real estate tech means renters often hand over huge amounts of revealing information to digital third parties – at great risk

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

Real estate agents in Australia using apps that leave millions of lease documents at risk, digital researcher says Exclusive: ‘This is a blatant and disturbing disregard for the law and for people’s security,’ digital rights advocate says

"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...

Australia’s heatwaves are getting deadlier – and renters are paying the price | Maiy Azize Some are trapped in a vicious cycle: rising rents, rising energy bills and falling standards. But this is not inevitable

"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 ☺️

Aside from creepy surveillance, what are ‘consumer-ready’ service robots actually for? | Samantha Floreani For A$30k you could have a remote employee see inside your home via a walking, talking machine with a chilling blank face. Count me out

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!

Peak real estate body issues warning over compliance audits One of Australia’s peak real estate bodies has issued a warning that the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has begun spot compliance audits, checking that real estate businesses...

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

In 2026, We Are Friction-Maxxing In the face of technologies that sell us escapism at every turn, we need to build up tolerance for “inconvenience.”

“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

Bringing Sexy Back Internet surveillance has killed eroticism. We need privacy to reclaim it.

"the instinct to submit online strangers to viral discipline is given a faux-radical sheen. It’s a kind of casual blackmail that warns everyone to conform or be exposed"
lux-magazine.com/article/priv...

a decent rental home may be out of reach for me but a banger thesis isn't

one of the great things about doing a phd on renting x tech is that I can convince myself that searching + applying for rentals isn't procrastinating, it's research. one of the not-great things about this how fucked it is. one of the great things about this is that it re-motivates me back to the phd

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

The Kalshi-fication of everything The predictions platform is revealing what a world of total financialization will look like.

I wrote about Kalshi, prediction markets, and the vision of total financialization by turning every opinion into a tradable assets www.fastcompany.com/91457404/kal...

Becoming an AI-detective is a job I never wanted and wish I could quit | Samantha Floreani My social media feed is now a hellish stream of puerile AI slop. Am I stubborn to want to hang on to reality?

"we’re trapped in a nightmare in which even the act of hating AI-generated content only serves to fuel it"
oof. @floreani.bsky.social on the money, as usual!
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Thank you!!

Oooh ok! I will DM you just as soon as Bluesky decides that I’m over 16 lmao

Ohh interesting, DM’d you!

Are you a renter, and have you ever had a property manager use a 360 camera when conducting routine inspections or condition reports? I really, really wanna talk with you. Get in touch!