By Andrew Sheeler, SACRAMENTO BEE
https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article299929444.html
Should businesses be allowed to charge you more for the price of goods and services based on a data profile they have on you?
That could soon be illegal in California, under AB 446, a bill by Assemblymember Chris Ward, D-San Diego, that specifically would “prohibit a person from setting a price offer to a consumer based, in whole or in part, upon personally identifiable information … gathered through an electronic surveillance technology.”
Ward’s office used a real-life example of Target marking up a $499.99 television (as shown on the Target app) by $100 as a person entered the company’s parking lot based on their geographic location, which led to a San Diego County lawsuit against the company in 2022 that settled for $5 million.
Other examples mentioned in the legislative digest writeup of the bill include Orbitz charging Mac users more money to stay at hotels because they spend more money, and Hotels.com charging a Bay Area person $80 more to stay in a New York City hotel than someone booking from Kansas City.
AB 446 would a civil penalty “not to exceed the jurisdiction of small claims court for individuals” for violations of the prohibition. “At a time when prices for basic necessities are rising across the board, it is more critical than ever to ensure that people are not being unfairly charged higher prices due to their actual or perceived characteristics,” Ward said in a statement. “The right to fair pricing should not be a privilege for the few but a fundamental protection for all. One customer, one price.”
The bill is sponsored by the consumer advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, whose president, Jamie Court, said in a statement, “People’s private data should not be used against them. This landmark measure will be bellwether to protect consumers from surveillance price gouging.”
