This is outrageous, page-6

Real Estate agents are a big cause of the problem in the relationship between investors & tenants.
REs don't see or treat tenants as customers but just as commodities that they source for the benefit of owners who they see as their customers.
There are a lot of disreputable REs out there would who are so focussed on their % that they don't care about tenants, their needs or their concerns.

As for the acquisition of personal data that's come about as the number of tenants completely outstrip the available properties.
20 years ago you made an appointment with an RE, met one on one at the property & simply said yes or no & filled in the paperwork.
Now the volumes applying for properties make that completely impossible, then you throw the availability of technology & you have the situation where everything is automated.
The monetarisation of the data collected is just another revenue stream for REs.

As for proving identities, employment history, references etc etc that information hasn't changed only how it's recorded.