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Eight companies in the U.S that are suspected of adjusting prices according to data collected from users received orders from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to provide information regarding the matter. According to the FTC’s late July press release, “the orders seek information about the potential impact these practices have on privacy, competition, and consumer protection.”
“Surveillance pricing” is a practice that involves harvesting personal information from the end user, such as location, demographics, browsing history, shopping history and even credit information and utilizing it to adjust prices on the same goods so that different users are charged different prices. Typically, companies do this by hiring third-party middlemen that use advanced technology, artificial intelligence and complex algorithms. The FTC states that it is determined to shed light on this issue, and that “Americans deserve to know whether businesses are using detailed consumer data to deploy surveillance pricing ”
As stated in the press release, the companies the orders were sent to by the FTC are Mastercard, Revionics, Bloomreach, JPMorgan Chase, Task Software, PROS, Accenture and McKinsey & Co. The companies were required to provide information regarding the types of products and services being offered (including technical implementation and current and future uses of this technology), Data collection and inputs (data sources, methods, platforms), Customer and sales information (who the products were offered to) and impacts on consumers and prices.
The FTC, which has “long been on the front lines of documenting and investigating the hidden ecosystem of data brokers, digital platforms, and other intermediaries that specialize in monitoring and selling user data” is determined to investigate and illuminate the issue of surveillance pricing.
