Denver, CO: Today, anti-monopoly, technology policy, workplace justice, and consumer rights groups released a comprehensive report calling on states to prohibit corporations from surveillance price and wage setting—the practice of using algorithms to set prices at the highest amount someone is willing to pay and wages at the lowest amount someone is willing to accept based on sensitive and personal information like their browsing history, financial circumstances, or even political affiliations. Surveillance prices and wages pose extraordinary risks to our privacy, allow large, dominant corporations to increase their power in the market and over all of us, and result in higher prices and lower wages at a time when people across the country are struggling.
The report expands on groundbreaking information released by the Federal Trade Commission on January 17, 2025, which describes the mechanisms used by large corporations to set individualized prices and exploit consumers based on their unique vulnerabilities and behaviors. But it is not clear what steps the FTC or other federal regulators will take to address surveillance prices or wages in the short term.
The report therefore calls on state policymakers and public enforcers across the country to address the problem. Over the past few weeks, lawmakers in multiple states have already introduced bills prohibiting the practice, including in California, Illinois, Colorado, and Georgia.
QUOTES FROM REPORT AUTHORS:
“The algorithmic systems that invisibly determine surveillance prices and surveillance wages are fundamentally disconnecting hard work, fair pay, and the ability of workers to act as consumers. Most of us are being squeezed at both ends. The only winners are the well-financed firms that make these systems and the companies that deploy them,” said Veena Dubal, Professor of Law, University of California, Irvine.
“Powerful corporations have unprecedented ability to exploit information about each of us for their own profits and power,” said David Seligman, Executive Director of Towards Justice. “Surveillance prices and wages are unfair—everyone should see that. And at this moment, when the richest man in the world has seized control of our worker and consumer protection agencies, it is essential to our democracy and economy that states step up to fight back.”
“Ever since the Industrial Revolution prices and large employer wages have been public, open and both consumers and most workers have known that they are paying the same amount—or being paid the same amount—as others similarly situated. An open public market is necessary (if not sufficient) for fairness,” said Zephyr Teachout, Fordham Law Professor. “Big corporations using intimate data to exploit each person in obscurity is an unwelcome revolution that must be stopped before it becomes the status quo.”
“Surveillance pricing and wages are supercharged by a business model built on the collection of detailed information about us as we move about our lives,” said Sarah Myers West, co-Executive Director of the AI Now Institute. “Companies are squeezing members of the public on both sides: extracting as much money from us as possible when making purchases, while reducing pay in unfair and often incontestable ways. In both cases, everyday people lose, and large, data-rich firms benefit from obscure infrastructures and vast information asymmetries.”
“The same technologies that corporations use to surveil consumers and jack up prices are also being used to cheat workers out of a fair wage,” said Groundwork Collaborative Executive Director Lindsay Owens. “This report gives states a framework on how to most effectively crack down on these predatory practices, protect fair pricing, and allow workers the opportunity to earn a just wage. With the cost of living skyrocketing, the last thing consumers need is big corporations spying on them to figure out how to most effectively rip them off.”
“Under the false promise of efficiency, the mass exploitation of sensitive data to effect real-time price and wage discrimination is a threat to the financial independence of all Americans,” said Lee Hepner, Senior Legal Counsel at American Economic Liberties Project. “Our findings show that this threat is not just hypothetical, but it’s not inevitable either. Public officials have an imperative to correct the catastrophic power imbalances that these technologies create.”
“NELP envisions an economy where every job is a good job regardless of race, gender, or other factors. Using sensitive worker data to feed hidden algorithms that control who works, when, and for how little exacerbates existing inequalities and offends basic notions of fairness and equal pay for equal work. NELP joins the call for state lawmakers to stop surveillance wage setting.” said Sally Dworak-Fisher, Senior Staff Attorney at NELP.
QUOTES FROM STATE POLICYMAKERS INTRODUCING LEGISLATION:
“Fighting surveillance-based price and wage discrimination is an issue of protecting both consumers and workers,” explained Georgia State Senator Nikki Merritt. “We can’t allow companies to use private data against consumers and workers when the playing field is already not level to begin with. I think that this is a common-sense issue that needs to be addressed across the country.”
“It simply cannot be the case that all of our behaviors and personal characteristics are fair game for gathering and analyzing in order to exploit our financial vulnerability,” explained Colorado State Representative Javier Mabrey. “Protecting against surveillance-data for price and wage setting is essential to protecting our privacy and our pocketbooks from the large corporations that dominate our economy.”
“In California, we believe in fairness—whether it’s at the checkout counter or in the workplace,” said California Assemblymember Chris Ward (D-San Diego). “Surveillance-based price and wage setting exploits personal data to squeeze more from consumers while suppressing wages for workers. This practice is not only unfair, but it deepens economic inequality at a time when too many people are already struggling to make ends meet. We must act to protect privacy, ensure transparency, and stop corporations from using technology to tip the scales against working families.”
“Illinois Senate Bill 2255 is about protecting privacy in a world where personal data is often used to increase profits,” said Illinois State Senator Robert Peters (D-Chicago). “Surveillance-based pricing is sold as a ‘discount,’ but it only boosts corporate profits, while wages in the freelance and gig economy leave workers questioning if they’re being paid fairly. This needs to end, and this legislation is a critical step toward protecting the working class from shady, profit-driven practices.”
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The report is published by: AI Now Institute, American Economic Liberties Project, Commonwealth, Coworker, EPIC – Electronic Privacy Information Center, Groundwork Collaborative, National Employment Law Project, Open Markets Institute, Future of Workers Initiative, S.T.O.P. – Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, SiX State Innovation Exchange, Tech Equity, Towards Justice, Veena Dubal, Professor of Law, University of California, Irvine, and Zephyr Teachout, Professor of Law, Fordham Law School.
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