New York City Becomes the Latest City to Ban Surveillance Pricing

Today, the New York City Council passed Introduction 0891-2026, a bill that prohibits businesses from engaging in surveillance pricing. EPIC testified in support of this bill in the NYC Council hearing in June and now urges the Mayor to sign this bill into law. If the bill is signed into law, New York City would join Seattle, Maryland, Connecticut, and New Jersey in banning surveillance pricing.  

Surveillance pricing is an unfair practice in which companies use troves of consumers’ personal data to determine how much each individual is willing to pay for a good or service. The bill would prohibit surveillance pricing, defined as setting a price with an algorithm that uses personal data to offer different customers different prices for the same good or service. This bill would protect New Yorkers from this unfair practice. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, whose administration has been supportive of this bill, is expected to sign it into law.  

EPIC has consistently supported the efforts to ban surveillance pricing, and has published an explainer with Consumer Federation of America as a resource to understand how the practice affects consumers. EPIC looks forward to working with more lawmakers in their attempts to tackle this extremely unpopular business practice that threatens privacy and affordability for everyday consumers.