Organizers in Bellingham have collected enough signatures for a new initiative to ban algorithmic rental pricing software.
The initiative is aimed at software companies that analyze public and private market data to suggest rental prices to landlords. Critics argue that the tools enable a form of collusion and price-fixing and allow landlords to skirt antitrust laws.
“This is not how we should be using this technology,” said Cleveland Harris, the chair of Community First Whatcom, the group that gathered signatures for the initiative. “It just feels like another way to extract or squeeze out more from folks who are price-burdened already”…