State Bans on Personalized Pricing Threaten Competition and Raise Costs

State Bans on Personalized Pricing Threaten Competition and Raise Costs

State lawmakers across the United States are taking aim at what they call “surveillance pricing,” or the practice of using personal data to algorithmically tailor prices to individual consumers. While concerns about discriminatory or deceptive pricing are valid and deserve careful attention, these proposed state bills conflate all forms of data-driven pricing with harmful practices. That misunderstanding threatens to raise prices and limit consu…