The Price of Power: California's Surveillance Pricing Bill Falls Short The recent failure of California's surveillance pricing bill to advance to Governor Newsom's desk is a telling sign of the growing influence of corporate interests in state politics.
This legislation, aimed at restricting the practice of using personal data to set prices that can be higher than those paid by others for the same product, has been met with fierce resistance from retailers who claim it would imperil discounts and rewards programs.
Behind this debate lies a more insidious issue: the use of surveillance pricing as a tool for price manipulation.