n 15 June 2005, the NYDOS published the <a href=”http://www.asklala.com/pdf/AIVProposedRuleMAking050615.pdf”>Proposed Rule Making</a> regarding the Apartment Information Vendor law, writing that “It has become apparent that a majority of apartment information vendors operating in New York State are doing so without the benefit of a license…Compounding the problem of unethical practices by some apartment information vendors is the prevalence of unlicensed operation in the industry. The Department of State must take measures to safeguard consumers by encouraging apartment information vendors to become licensed.”

Unfortunately, the changes recommended by the DOS had little to do with how consumers use the internet for real estate services.

In our <a href=”http://www.asklala.com/pdf/WClarkAIVProposedRuleMaking060714final1.pdf”>Comments</a> to the DOS, we explained how this Proposed Rule Making
A. Fails to benefit consumers because 1) it does not address how consumers are using the Internet or how they want to use online apartment services, and 2) it hampers innovation that benefits consumers;
B. Will not effectively regulate Apartment Information Vendors;
C. Does not recognize that many “online apartment information� services offer better protection to consumers than ever contemplated by the AIV rules and regulations;
D.  Is inconsistent in its treatment of different kinds of providers;
E.  Validates our complaint that the DOS has selectively enforced the AIV law against MLX and its CEO, LaLa Wang.

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