Saturday, February 06, 2021
Friday, February 05, 2021
GOOD NEWS: Proactive Measures To Better Protect Online Privacy DO NOT TRACK
Google is weighing an anti-tracking feature for Android, following Apple’s lead
Google’s version may not be as severe as Apple’s App Tracking Transparency
Google Explores Alternative to Apple’s New Anti-Tracking Feature
Google is exploring an alternative to Apple Inc.’s new anti-tracking feature, the latest sign that the internet industry is slowly embracing user privacy, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Internally, the search giant is discussing how it can limit data collection and cross-app tracking on the Android operating system in a way that is less stringent than Apple’s solution, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private plans.
Google is trying to balance the rising demands of privacy-conscious consumers with the financial needs of developers and advertisers. The Alphabet Inc. unit is seeking input from these stakeholders, similar to how it’s slowly developing a new privacy standard for web browsing called the Privacy Sandbox.
With more than $100 billion in annual digital ad sales, Google has a vested interest in helping partners to continue generating revenue by targeting ads to Android device users and measuring the performance of those marketing spots. . . "“We’re always looking for ways to work with developers to raise the bar on privacy while enabling a healthy, ad-supported app ecosystem,” a Google spokesman said in a statement.
The exploration into an Android alternative to Apple’s feature is still in the early stages, and Google hasn’t decided when, or if, it will go ahead with the changes.
On the iPhone, Google offers developers a framework so they can monetize their apps using Google ads.
> In a recent blog post, Google said Apple’s ad-tracking update means developers “may see a significant impact” on their ad revenue. . .
Google’s web alternative, known as the Privacy Sandbox, allows some ad targeting with less-specific data collection.
As part of that solution, the company has developed a technology called Federated Learning of Cohorts that lets advertisers target groups of people with similar interests rather than individuals. Google is likely to take a similar approach with Android.
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Thursday, February 04, 2021
AntiTrust Violations + Extracting Exorbitant FeeS
A showdown over real estate fees could upend the market
A Justice Department settlement with the National Association of Realtors (NAR) — which will be finalized as early as mid-February — will make it illegal for a buyer's side realtor to characterize their services as free, as often happens.
Real estate websites will have to disclose publicly what percentage of a sale the buyer's agent will reap.
"The settlement will discourage blatant discrimination against discount brokers and the steering of buyers to high-commission properties," but doesn't go far enough, Stephen Brobeck, a senior fellow at the Consumer Federation of America, said in a statement.
"Only the uncoupling of commissions, so that both buyers and sellers negotiate and pay their own broker compensation, can foster the price competition that exists in most other consumer markets."
Driving the news: Several powerful forces are going up against the National Association of Realtors and the rules governing home sales in various states:
The Justice Department settlement was filed simultaneously with an antitrust lawsuit against the association in November, demanding changes to rules it called anticompetitive.
Two lawsuits seeking class action status, in Illinois and Missouri, were filed by plaintiffs who say they were overcharged as a result of NAR's system.
REX Real Estate, a discount brokerage, is suing Oregon and other states that bar realtors from giving rebates to consumers.
Jack Ryan, founder and CEO of REX, is among those who argue that NAR's commission system suppresses U.S. homeownership rates and reduces overall household wealth. "This is a great David-versus-Goliath story, both in terms of the odds but also in terms of the moral implications," he said.
His company charges 2%-2.5% to sell a home, similar to the prevailing rates in other developed countries.
Of note: Realtors' fees are a $100 billion-a-year business, per a 2019 Consumer Federation of America report. "These commissions — usually $15,000 to $18,000 on the sale of a $300,000 home — represent one of the most expensive products purchased by many consumers," the report said.
Where it stands: The lawsuits in Missouri and Illinois — filed by prominent plaintiffs' firms against NAR and an all-star cast of brokerages — are proceeding.
In the Illinois case, Judge Andrea R. Wood "said the plaintiffs would have paid 'substantially lower' commissions if not for the rules established by the Realtors association and followed by the brokerages," per the NYT.
REX's case in Oregon is also moving forward, and the company plans to replicate it in the 10 or so other states where realtors are not permitted to give fee rebates.
The National Association of Realtors — which has 1.4 million members — tells Axios it is confident it will prevail in the lawsuits and that the DOJ settlement largely just makes more transparent practices that were already in place.
One change: "When you see listings online in the future, you will likely see the offer of compensation that brokers are offering to each other," Katie Johnson, NAR's general counsel, tells Axios.
In an information page for brokers on the NAR website, Johnson says the class action complaints "mischaracterize NAR rules and MLS policy."
Brokers are advised: "Discussions regarding these lawsuits should be grounded in the bigger picture of the value of REALTORS® and the MLS system to both buyers and sellers."
What they're saying: Traditional realtors say that people who use discount brokers can get burned by low levels of service and marketing.
"You get what you pay for," Andrea Paro, an agent at Compass Real Estate in Bethesda, Md., tells Axios.
Yes, but: People who support REX and its controversial CEO say that despite the crazy sellers' market — with existing homes commanding record prices — Americans could extract more wealth from their homes and have greater mobility if realtors' fees were lower and more competitive.
"I think this is going to trial and the plaintiffs win," said Rob Hahn, managing partner at the real estate consultancy 7DS Associates, who blogs about real estate under the name Notorious Rob. "You could be looking at $50, $70 billion in damages."
The bottom line: This is an issue we're likely to hear a lot more about —especially under a Biden DOJ.
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The Green Mountain State: Vermont: Nearly Unprecedented Interest In. Real Estate
Pleasant surprise State News
Sales of $1M homes tripled in Vermont last year
Average sale price for a single-family home rose 26% to $352,537
By Anne Wallace Allen/VTDigger
The number of $1 million home sales in Vermont nearly tripled last year.
Vermont real estate agents assisted in the sale of 313 homes worth at least $1 million in 2020, said Staige Davis, CEO of Four Seasons Sotheby’s. In 2019, that number was 112, Davis said.
He described a year of nearly unprecedented interest in Vermont real estate that started in early June. Before Covid-19 hit in March, many high-end homes had languished unsold.
“A lot of those seven-figure listings had been on the market for a long period of time,” Davis said. But in early summer, real estate agents noticed high interest in new homes, some of it from out-of-state buyers. Davis attributed the attention to Vermont’s safety record with Covid. For many weeks, the state had the lowest infection rate in the country.
He also says civil unrest in many major cities and wildfires on the West Coast played a role.
“We had a few buyers from California escaping fires,” he said.
The high interest in Vermont real estate has driven up prices over the last year. The average sale price for a single-family home in November 2020 was $352,537, according to the Vermont Association of Realtors. The organization said the average price in November 2019 was $279,528; that’s an increase of 26% year-over-year.
Homes had been rooted in that 2019 price range for a decade before Covid-19. A 2009 Vermont Housing Finance Agency report showed the median purchase price for a newly constructed home in Vermont in 2008 was $270,000, about the same as in 2007.
Vermont is now reporting a shortage of homes for sale but it is not alone; many other states are as well, according to the National Association of Realtors, which reported a record-setting low for home inventory in December 2020. That month, 1.07 million properties were listed on the market, the Realtors association said — a 23% drop from December 2019, when there were nearly 1.4 million properties on the market.
“It’s nationwide,” Davis said. “As a result of this, there is appreciation where there otherwise might not be.”
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Jan 23, 2026 During the EU Summit yesterday, the EU leaders ...
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