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Comment by alephnerd | Hacker News Reader

You don't need to evaluate the algorithm.

If a subset of companies use the exact same algorithm for price discovery, is there a form of price-fixing? This is the key question being argued.

If the courts rule against Realpage, then any form of algorithmic price discovery en-masse could be found to be anti-competitive.

This might mean you can't use TheTradeDesk and Google Adsense en-masse for example.

Basically, as of today, a lot of price discovery is now automated by a majority of companies using a handful of vendors for this.

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What if the algorithm turns out to be tuned in such a way as to essentially never reduce prices? That is, the algorithm is deliberately crafted in such a way so as to always favor the renters vs the rentees, could that weigh into the argument at all?

Idk.

To me at least, what the algorithm is doing doesn't actually matter.

What actually matters is whether a set of players using a singular algorithm can count as price fixing or not.

Like is that coordination or not? This is a fundamental question for the entire API industry, ML Industry, and any other industry dependent on algorithms.

I think that is a good question. I am not 100% but I do think you could take the algorithm to extremes and it does matter.

Algorithm A - professionally_evaluated_price + inflation

Algorithm B - average_price_of_cohort_you_agreed_to_join + 0.01

The first algorithm is super simple and is conceivably how many landlords might do it anyway and is based on value of your goods. Everyone using it wouldn't raise prices or hurt consumers. The second algorithm is basically agreeing with a cohort that you will never undercut each other and slowly raise prices. This obviously hurts renters and raises prices.

but algorithm B requires that the cohort you joined be big enough to have a material effect on the market price of said goods/services.

So at that point, it's not the algorithm, but the cohort that's at fault of price fixing. So is there proof that you joined a cohort? Does using the same software count as joining a cohort?

Do you have to be successful in price fixing for it to be illegal or is just trying to price fix enough? That is a serious question - I do not know.

These two bullet points from the article seem to indicate that RealPage covers a large swath of the market, and that compliance is mandatory.

>The software company actively "polices" landlords to ensure that they comply with the rent cost it generates, the lawsuit alleges. Failure to impose the RealPage rents could lead to landlords being expelled from the organization, according to the suit.

> RealPage's software has set the rent at more than 30% of apartments in multifamily buildings in D.C. and 60% of units in large multifamily buildings, per the lawsuit. The percentages are even higher for the broader D.C. metro area.

In my mind, you can't claim collusion because everyone is using the same algorithm.

But you can claim collusion because the parties are sharing information with and broadly following the recommendations of a single company.

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