A bill to prohibit “surveillance pricing,” used by some companies to charge consumers differently, passed the California Assembly on May 12.
Assembly Bill 446, authored by San Diego Democrat Assemblyman Christopher Ward, would become the first in the nation to ban companies from charging people different prices for the same product based on their personal data.
“I believe that this is predatory, it’s discriminatory, and it violates a public trust when consumers are already stretched thin and don’t deserve to be unwittingly exploited,” Ward told Assembly members during a floor vote on the bill on Monday.
Companies use consumers’ cell phone data, zip codes, home computer IP addresses, and personal information—including facial recognition—to adjust prices, according to the lawmaker….