Washington, D.C. – Today, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued orders to eight companies to investigate whether and how they use surveillance pricing to set individualized prices for consumers. Emily Peterson-Cassin, Director of Corporate Power at Demand Progress Education Fund, issued the following statement:
“One of the pernicious effects of commercial surveillance is companies’ ability to exploit the information they collect on a person from various sources against them when determining how much a person should pay for something. In surveillance pricing, a company can leverage hoards of sensitive data on consumers, proprietary algorithms, and artificial intelligence against individuals who don’t have meaningful control or even visibility into those systems. These kinds of strategies not only distort the market, they exacerbate existing discrimination and create new avenues to target Americans.
“Along with their rulemaking on commercial surveillance, which we and millions of others eagerly await, this action is another strong sign that the FTC is fighting for consumer power over corporate power. We expect this investigation will yield important information about how to protect consumers’ privacy and pocketbooks.”