Stanford CIS

MA bill would ban 'surveillance pricing' in grocery stores. Here's how it would work

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Woodrow Hartzog, a professor at Boston University's School of Law, said surveillance pricing allows companies to figure out the highest price that customers are willing to pay.

"This disastrous practice leads to price gouging, discrimination by proxy, an inability to budget, data hoarding, and the suffocating feeling that every choice you make while shopping is a trap," Hartzog testified to the Advanced Information Technology, the Internet and Cybersecurity Committee. "This bill would prohibit food stores from using tools like facial recognition to charge people different prices and provide vital breathing room for customers, while still allowing for people to receive discounts."

Published in: Press , Cyber Surveillance , Privacy