MESSAGE
| DATE | 2024-08-02 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] Spyware you pay for..
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July 29, 2024
FTC to Study “Surveillance Pricing”
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On July 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it
had voted unanimously to initiate a new study focused on how companies
may be leveraging consumer purchasing behaviors to personalize pricing
for consumers. Using its authority under 6(b) of the FTC Act, which
empowers the FTC to study specific industries or business practices, the
Commission issued orders to eight companies that it believes offer
products that use technology and personal information to enable
businesses to set personalized prices for a product or service. The
FTC’s press release refers to this conduct as “surveillance pricing,”
and says the study will “shed light on the shadowy ecosystem of pricing
middlemen.” Commissioners Holyoak and Ferguson, in their concurring
statements, suggested that they would have preferred the Commission use
a more neutral term to describe the practices being studied, but support
the 6(b) effort.
Personalized pricing is not a new concept to consumers. Consumers know
that the price they pay for a mortgage or car loan will depend on
factors such as their credit score and income. In certain settings —such
as car dealerships or flea markets— consumers expect to be able to
negotiate the price they pay. What they might not expect is that the
price of a pair of shoes could vary from consumer to consumer based on
factors such as how often the consumer buys shoes, where they have
purchased shoes from in the past, and the price they have paid for a
similar pair of shoes.
The FTC’s 6(b) aims to explore these products to better understand their
inputs, uses, and how they impact consumers’ bottom line. The orders are
directed, not to retailers, but to companies that develop and sell
personalized pricing products, and request information including:
The sources of information used to create personalized pricing
products, including whether consumers received any notice or provided
consent for their personal information to be used in the personalized
pricing products;
Marketing materials for personalized pricing products;
Customer and prospective customer lists, including details on the
top ten business customers who purchased or licensed the greatest amount
of user segmentation or targeted pricing solutions; and
All reports, studies, surveys, and analyses that analyze or evaluate
the effects of personalized pricing products on consumers, pricing,
sales volume, or revenue must be included.
The FTC uses its 6(b) authority to explore new and emerging industries,
technologies, and business practices. At the completion of a 6(b) study,
the FTC often produces a report summarizing its findings and providing
recommendations to businesses and policymakers (see, for example, the
Data Broker Report). This latest study joins several other ongoing 6(b)s
including the PBM study (2022), AI investments and partnerships study
(2024), and social media and video streaming services study (2020).
While some of these studies have been ongoing for years, given the FTC’s
continued focus on the consumer data ecosystem, and its implications for
consumer privacy, security, and competition, it seems likely the FTC
will prioritize this effort to understand a practice that it believes
could have real effects on consumers’ pocketbooks.
Summer Associate Brianna Robinson contributed to this post.
--
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town
that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological
proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
http://www.mrbrklyn.com
DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software
http://www.brooklyn-living.com
Being so tracked is for FARM ANIMALS and extermination camps,
but incompatible with living as a free human being. -RI Safir 2013
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