samantha floreani
@floreani.bsky.social
digital rights advocate / writer / PhD candidate researching tech + housing justice 🏠 surveillance isn't safety xoxo
samanthafloreani.com
samanthafloreani.com
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samantha floreani
@floreani.bsky.social
· Jun 18
The Machine-Readable Renter — Samantha Floreani
Participants needed! Are you a renter in Australia? Have you ever used tech to find and apply for a home, log maintenance, or pay rent? I want to speak with you!
www.samanthafloreani.com
I’m researching ways that digital technologies in Australia's private rental sector are impacting renters and housing justice.
I’m looking for more interview participants. If you are a renter and have experience using ‘RentTech’ - I want to speak with you!
More info and EOI here:
I’m looking for more interview participants. If you are a renter and have experience using ‘RentTech’ - I want to speak with you!
More info and EOI here:
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
Exclusive: ‘This is a blatant and disturbing disregard for the law and for people’s security,’ digital rights advocate says
www.theguardian.com
February 3, 2026 at 1:22 AM
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
Reposted by samantha floreani
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...
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
‘This is a blatant and disturbing disregard for the law and for people’s security,’ digital rights advocate says
www.theguardian.com
February 1, 2026 at 7:03 PM
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...
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...
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:
I wrote about it for the Guardian:
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
www.theguardian.com
February 2, 2026 at 7:15 AM
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:
I wrote about it for the Guardian:
rent tech platforms looking at the hoards of renter data they collect like
February 2, 2026 at 5:46 AM
rent tech platforms looking at the hoards of renter data they collect like
Reposted by samantha floreani
"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...
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...
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
www.theguardian.com
February 2, 2026 at 1:42 AM
"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...
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...
"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."
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
www.theguardian.com
January 27, 2026 at 5:56 AM
"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."
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
January 24, 2026 at 1:51 AM
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
Reposted by samantha floreani
brilliantly spicy take on ai and automation from the always on point @floreani.bsky.social
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!
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
www.theguardian.com
January 16, 2026 at 5:43 AM
brilliantly spicy take on ai and automation from the always on point @floreani.bsky.social
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!
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
www.theguardian.com
January 16, 2026 at 1:46 AM
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!
Reposted by samantha floreani
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
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...
www.cyberdaily.au
January 14, 2026 at 3:46 AM
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
Reposted by samantha floreani
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
December 18, 2025 at 11:51 PM
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
Reposted by samantha floreani
“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...
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.”
www.thecut.com
January 8, 2026 at 10:18 PM
“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...
Reposted by samantha floreani
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
Adelaide Festival board facing a stark choice: Are they willing to sacrifice the entire festival to prevent a single Palestinian-Australian author from speaking?
January 9, 2026 at 1:41 AM
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
"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...
lux-magazine.com/article/priv...
Bringing Sexy Back
Internet surveillance has killed eroticism. We need privacy to reclaim it.
lux-magazine.com
January 9, 2026 at 1:47 AM
"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...
lux-magazine.com/article/priv...
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
January 7, 2026 at 2:06 AM
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
December 18, 2025 at 11:51 PM
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
Reposted by samantha floreani
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...
The Kalshi-fication of everything
The predictions platform is revealing what a world of total financialization will look like.
www.fastcompany.com
December 11, 2025 at 11:05 PM
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...
Reposted by samantha floreani
"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...
oof. @floreani.bsky.social on the money, as usual!
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
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?
www.theguardian.com
December 12, 2025 at 12:10 AM
"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...
oof. @floreani.bsky.social on the money, as usual!
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
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!
I’m researching ways that digital technologies in Australia's private rental sector are impacting renters and housing justice.
I’m looking for more interview participants. If you are a renter and have experience using ‘RentTech’ - I want to speak with you!
More info and EOI here:
I’m looking for more interview participants. If you are a renter and have experience using ‘RentTech’ - I want to speak with you!
More info and EOI here:
The Machine-Readable Renter — Samantha Floreani
Participants needed! Are you a renter in Australia? Have you ever used tech to find and apply for a home, log maintenance, or pay rent? I want to speak with you!
www.samanthafloreani.com
December 9, 2025 at 11:25 PM
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!
today in Vic Parliament: a bill that will mean children as young as 14 will face adult prison sentences. we know this will disproportionately harm Blak, brown and migrant kids, and it goes against decades of evidence. tell the Allan govt to scrap this awful bill: cv-au.replit.app/kids-need-care
December 2, 2025 at 12:22 AM
today in Vic Parliament: a bill that will mean children as young as 14 will face adult prison sentences. we know this will disproportionately harm Blak, brown and migrant kids, and it goes against decades of evidence. tell the Allan govt to scrap this awful bill: cv-au.replit.app/kids-need-care
Three years ago I emailed Jathan in response to a PhD call-out. Now I’m two years in (to a different project because I waited too long and missed the opportunity - don’t be like me! send the email!) and it’s been great. Jathan is a wonderful supervisor and this project is both cool and important
Call for PhD Student!
I'm recruiting a PhD student to work with me on a project related to my Future Fellowship at Monash University on the political economy of insurance, risk technology, climate governance, and the crisis of uninsurability. Here's the overview of my fellowship.
I'm recruiting a PhD student to work with me on a project related to my Future Fellowship at Monash University on the political economy of insurance, risk technology, climate governance, and the crisis of uninsurability. Here's the overview of my fellowship.
November 27, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Three years ago I emailed Jathan in response to a PhD call-out. Now I’m two years in (to a different project because I waited too long and missed the opportunity - don’t be like me! send the email!) and it’s been great. Jathan is a wonderful supervisor and this project is both cool and important
Reposted by samantha floreani
Call for PhD Student!
I'm recruiting a PhD student to work with me on a project related to my Future Fellowship at Monash University on the political economy of insurance, risk technology, climate governance, and the crisis of uninsurability. Here's the overview of my fellowship.
I'm recruiting a PhD student to work with me on a project related to my Future Fellowship at Monash University on the political economy of insurance, risk technology, climate governance, and the crisis of uninsurability. Here's the overview of my fellowship.
November 25, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Call for PhD Student!
I'm recruiting a PhD student to work with me on a project related to my Future Fellowship at Monash University on the political economy of insurance, risk technology, climate governance, and the crisis of uninsurability. Here's the overview of my fellowship.
I'm recruiting a PhD student to work with me on a project related to my Future Fellowship at Monash University on the political economy of insurance, risk technology, climate governance, and the crisis of uninsurability. Here's the overview of my fellowship.
Reposted by samantha floreani
We need more honest language:
Theft Tech (AI)
Grift Tech (crypto)
Death Tech (automated weapons and military surveillance)
Theft Tech (AI)
Grift Tech (crypto)
Death Tech (automated weapons and military surveillance)
"theft tech" is a term my pal @astra.bsky.social thought of just today when we were working on our book about these End Times Fascists.
We were thinking about what should happen when this this bubble busts, as we all know it will.
Remember: they have bunkers. We don't. 2/3
We were thinking about what should happen when this this bubble busts, as we all know it will.
Remember: they have bunkers. We don't. 2/3
November 17, 2025 at 7:01 PM
We need more honest language:
Theft Tech (AI)
Grift Tech (crypto)
Death Tech (automated weapons and military surveillance)
Theft Tech (AI)
Grift Tech (crypto)
Death Tech (automated weapons and military surveillance)
do you resent playing AI detective online??? does it make you so, so annoyed to spend time looking for generative AI red flags? me too!!! my latest piece for the guardian is for those of us who are fed! up!
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?
www.theguardian.com
November 19, 2025 at 12:50 AM
do you resent playing AI detective online??? does it make you so, so annoyed to spend time looking for generative AI red flags? me too!!! my latest piece for the guardian is for those of us who are fed! up!