EPIC Testifies in Support of Bill to Protect Colorado Consumers From Surveillance Pricing

EPIC Counsel  Tom McBrien testified Tuesday before the Colorado Senate Business, Labor & Technology Committee in support of a bill that would protect Coloradans from surveillance pricing and surveillance wage-setting practices.  

The bill, HB26-1210, seeks to address companies feeding swathes of personal data into automated decision systems to charge the highest possible prices and offer the lowest possible wages an individual will accept. The bill is carefully tailored to stop this predatory, unfair, and privacy-invasive practice while still allowing for transparent and fair discount and loyalty offerings and human discretion in wage offerings. 

“Companies have the ability and often the incentive to abuse our personal data by engaging in surveillance pricing and wage-setting,” McBrien testified. “This means using algorithms to infer the highest price each of us is willing to pay for a good or service, or the lowest wage we are willing to accept for our work, andsetting that price or that wage at that level for each individual consumer or worker. This is a frightening trend in the midst of an ongoing cost of living crisis.” 

Surveillance pricing is a threat to privacy and fairness in the marketplace, especially when it is hidden from consumers. People have a right to know whether they are paying more than others for the same products and services, and knowing this information can help consumers make purchasing decisions, know who has their data and how it’s being used, and evaluate whether prices are being set in a way that violates fairness laws. 

EPIC has been urging lawmakers to regulate surveillance pricing and is helping states defend regulations in court.