On June 24th, Consumer Reports submitted testimony to the New Jersey Assembly Appropriations Committee and the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee regarding the Fair Price Protection Act (A4085/A4523 and S-3612/S-3717), a bill aimed at prohibiting surveillance pricing in the sale of groceries.
Surveillance pricing, also sometimes referred to as personalized pricing, is when a company uses personal data that they’ve gathered about a consumer—like data about their online search history, or inferences about family structure, health conditions, or income—to set the price of a product or determine the discount offered to a consumer.
Consumer Reports is strongly supportive of curbing surveillance pricing. The Fair Price Protection Act would be an important starting point for prohibitions that cover the sale of goods and services more broadly. Consumer Reports suggested some changes to the bill that could make the bill more workable for both consumers and retailers, including:
- Amend ‘bona fide discount’ to ensure original price is real
- Expand definition of location
- Ensure enforcers can access the information they need, and add clear private enforcement
- Clarify that randomized differential pricing is also prohibited
For more, see the full testimony linked above.