In this episode, Siara breaks down surveillance pricing, a growing practice in which personal data can influence the prices, discounts, promotions, and products consumers are shown. She looks at investigations from the FTC and Consumer Reports involving groceries, rideshare platforms, retailers, and the technology companies working behind the scenes to build increasingly sophisticated pricing systems. Siara shares four ways to make yourself harder to profile.
Plus, two stories from this week’s tech news: Comcast is turning some Xfinity Wi-Fi routers into motion sensors, and New York City is making it easier to cancel subscriptions.
Surveillance pricing uses personal data to influence the price, discount, promotion, or product offer you receive.
Dynamic pricing responds to market conditions. Surveillance pricing adds information about the individual consumer.
Companies can use data to estimate your “willingness to pay,” or the highest price they think you will accept.
Consumer Reports found shoppers receiving different prices for identical groceries and rideshare users receiving substantially different fares for similar trips.
Location, browsing history, shopping behavior, demographics, search activity, and other signals can potentially contribute to pricing systems.
The FTC found that pricing intermediaries work with hundreds of companies across industries including grocery, apparel, travel, and retail.
New York, California, Maryland, New Jersey, and Congress have all taken steps to investigate, disclose, or restrict forms of personalized pricing.
You cannot completely opt out of surveillance pricing today, but reducing unnecessary data collection can make you harder to profile.
Comparing prices across retailers, apps, logged-in and logged-out sessions can give you another point of reference before purchasing.
Comcast is repurposing Xfinity Wi-Fi routers into motion sensors, raising new questions about how home internet hardware can double as surveillance infrastructure.
New York City is making it easier for residents to cancel subscriptions, aiming to reduce friction and prevent unwanted recurring charges.
