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Two people shopping for the same product shouldn’t have to wonder whether one is paying more because a company knows more about them.

That’s the concern behind a bill passed by the New York City Council on November 12. The legislation targets surveillance pricing, defined as using personal data and algorithms to offer different people different prices for the same goods or services.

Introduction 891-A would prohibit these practices in transactions with consumers in New York City. It would also restrict collecting, selling, or sharing personal data to facilitate surveillance pricing. The bill is at the mayor’s desk and would take effect one year after becoming law.

For consumers, the issue goes beyond an unexpectedly expensive shopping cart. It’s about companies turning information about your life and online behavior into a tool for deciding what to charge you.

Learn more about surveillance pricing in this episode of our podcast Lock & Code:

Large-scale data collection also creates risks beyond pricing, including sensitive inferences about people and unauthorized disclosure of their information.

What exactly is surveillance pricing?

Surveillance pricing uses information about you, or a profile a company has built about you, to help determine the price you see for a specific product or service.

That information can include your location, browsing history, shopping habits, and demographic characteristics. In initial findings published in January 2025, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said pricing tools could draw on surprisingly detailed behavior, including mouse movements and the products people leave unpurchased in their online shopping carts.

This is not some conspiracy theory. There is evidence that the tools and data pipelines exist. The FTC’s findings drew on documents from pricing and technology intermediaries. Staff reported that the intermediaries examined worked with at least 250 clients across sectors including groceries and apparel. The published examples were hypothetical to protect confidential business information.

Surveillance pricing should not be confused with dynamic pricing. Dynamic pricing can respond to changing market conditions, such as demand or availability. Surveillance pricing uses personal information to differentiate between customers. While the two can overlap, they aren’t interchangeable.

A personalized price isn’t automatically a higher price. Some shoppers might receive discounts. The concern is that an opaque pricing system gives sellers detailed insight into customers while those customers are unable to see how they’re being assessed.

Another form of unequal pricing that the bill allows is qualifying loyalty and other discounts. The bill preserves genuine discounts, including qualifying loyalty and rewards programs and discounts for clearly defined groups such as veterans, seniors, and teachers. But those exceptions come with conditions.

Surveillance pricing doesn’t necessarily charge wealthy shoppers more and give everyone else a break. Pricing tools can estimate what you’re willing to pay, which may have little to do with what you can comfortably afford. Perceived price sensitivity is a deciding factor, so a wealthy bargain hunter could receive a discount, while someone with less money but an urgent need or few alternatives could be judged willing to pay more.

For consumers, the underlying question about surveillance pricing is straightforward: How much does the price reflect what’s being sold, and how much does it reflect what a company thinks it can get out of you?

New York City’s bill aims to limit how companies use your personal information to make that calculation.

Your name, address, and phone number may already be for sale.  

Data brokers collect and sell your personal details to anyone willing to pay. Malwarebytes Personal Data Remover finds them and gets your information removed, then keeps watch so it stays that way. 

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