EPIC and Consumer Groups Urge FTC to Treat Surveillance Pricing as an Unfair Practice
EPIC and several consumer advocacy organizations filed a comment with the FTC arguing that personalized pricing based on surveillance data should be treated as an unfair trade practice, not merely addressed through disclosure requirements. The groups are pushing the agency to take stronger enforcement action than its current proposed policy statement.
Why this matters: Disclosure sounds like accountability, but it often just means companies tell you they are doing something you cannot realistically stop. Surveillance pricing means a store charges you more because of what your data says about you — your location, your browsing, your habits, maybe your desperation. You probably never see it happening. These groups want the FTC to call that unfair outright, not just require a fine-print notice. That is a meaningful difference. One approach warns you. The other actually limits what companies can do to you.
Who should care: Lawyers · Privacy officers · Compliance · Cybersecurity · General readers · Policy
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