Maryland enacts a first-of-its-kind surveillance pricing law, but there are loopholes
Maryland has passed what is being described as the first law of its kind targeting surveillance-based pricing, where companies use personal data to charge individuals different prices. The law contains notable loopholes that may limit how much it actually constrains the practice.
Why this matters: Surveillance pricing is straightforward: a company knows enough about you to charge you more than it would charge someone else. Your location, your browsing, your income signals, your urgency — all of it can become a reason to raise your price. Maryland is the first state to push back on this directly, which matters. But a law with loopholes is not really a law. It is a boundary companies will test until they find the edge. The question is whether the holes are big enough to swallow the whole thing.
Who should care: Privacy officers · Cybersecurity · General readers · Policy
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