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First-Ever Ban on Surveillance Pricing Introduced in Congress
Just a year ago, the Prospect published a special issue that introduced the term surveillance pricing, which refers to the emerging practice of companies using Americans’ personal information to set individualized prices, exploiting the desire to buy a particular good. If a business knows when you deposited your paycheck, they might hike up prices on you to capitalize on the money jingling in your pocket; if Uber knows your phone battery is low, they might charge more for a ride because you have to get home before your phone dies.
Within a month, the Federal Trade Commission had initiated a study of surveillance pricing; within a few more months, lawmakers in several states had introduced legislation to ban the practice. And today, the first federal surveillance pricing ban has been introduced, with an added measure that would ban the use of surveillance in setting wages.
Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, is introducing the Stop AI Price Gouging and Wage Fixing Act of 2025. It would simply outlaw using automated processes to offer customized prices based on surveillance data. Differences based on “reasonable” costs for a particular region would be allowed, as well as discounts for broadly defined groups like seniors or veterans or members of a loyalty program. But using personal data to target individual prices would be prohibited.
“We already know that our data is being sucked up, but people always ask what corporations are doing with all that data,” Casar said in an interview. “This is the clear place that they’re going to go … price-gouging and wage-fixing through surveillance is already prevalent in the economy, and if we don’t ban it soon, it could be a wildfire that spreads.”
Within a month, the Federal Trade Commission had initiated a study of surveillance pricing; within a few more months, lawmakers in several states had introduced legislation to ban the practice. And today, the first federal surveillance pricing ban has been introduced, with an added measure that would ban the use of surveillance in setting wages.
Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, is introducing the Stop AI Price Gouging and Wage Fixing Act of 2025. It would simply outlaw using automated processes to offer customized prices based on surveillance data. Differences based on “reasonable” costs for a particular region would be allowed, as well as discounts for broadly defined groups like seniors or veterans or members of a loyalty program. But using personal data to target individual prices would be prohibited.
“We already know that our data is being sucked up, but people always ask what corporations are doing with all that data,” Casar said in an interview. “This is the clear place that they’re going to go … price-gouging and wage-fixing through surveillance is already prevalent in the economy, and if we don’t ban it soon, it could be a wildfire that spreads.”
https://prospect.org/economy/2025-07-23-first-ever-ban-surveillance-pricing-congress-greg-casar/
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