On March 12th, Consumer Reports testified at a hearing in support of a bill that would ban surveillance pricing in Colorado, HB26-1210.
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.
HB26-1210 prohibits the use of data related to a person’s characteristics, behavior, or biometrics to automatically and secretly inform the price or wage they are offered. It also includes protections for commonly understood group discounts, discounts offered through loyalty and rewards programs, and discounts any consumer could potentially obtain. Additionally, it offers well-tailored exemptions for insurers relying on risk-relevant data, and for refusals to offer credit based on data covered by the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
CR suggested that legislators consider exempting pricing from the ‘publication of procedures’ section of the bill.
See the attached letter for more.