Consumer Reports submitted testimony to the Illinois Senate Senate Executive Subcommittee on AI and Social Media in support of SB 2255.
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.
What does the bill do?
SB 2255 would prohibit the use of a consumer’s personal data to set a customized price for a tangible good. This includes, for example, data about a consumer’s web-browsing history, their realtime location, inferences about their income, family size, health conditions, and more.
The bill also protects transparently offered discounts for commonly understood group discounts, discounts offered through loyalty and rewards programs, and discounts any consumer could potentially obtain.
For more, see the testimony linked above.