Maryland becomes first US state to ban data-based grocery price targeting, effective Oct. 1. Law carries penalties up to $25,000 but includes exemptions for loyalty programs and customer consent. Consumer groups say loopholes weaken protections. Enforcement limited to attorney general cases only. #DataPrivacy #ConsumerProtection #AlgorithmicPricing

https://www.implicator.ai/maryland-grocery-price-law-targets-data-based-markups-in-first-us-ban/

English – The Conversation | Your browsing history could soon set your grocery bill — and Canada isn’t ready for it by Jake Okechukwu Effoduh, Assistant Professor, School of Law, Toronto Metropolitan University

AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information.

Surveillance pricing – also called algorithmic personalized pricing – lets retailers show different shoppers different prices for the same item at the same time by using data such as browsing history, location and purchase patterns, and a recent parliamentary vote rejected an NDP motion to ban the practice; while most Canadians are unfamiliar with the term, a March poll found 52 % would support a ban, and a U.S. investigation of Instacart revealed shoppers paying up to 23 % more for identical groceries, prompting the company to halt the program after backlash. Canadian stores are increasingly equipped with digital shelf labels and AI pricing engines, yet existing consumer‑protection, competition and privacy laws do not address individualized price discrimination, leaving shoppers in the dark. By contrast, New York’s Algorithmic Pricing Disclosure Act and the EU’s 2019 consumer‑rights reforms require notices when algorithms set prices, and Manitoba’s proposed Bill 49 would outright prohibit surveillance pricing. In the short term, consumers can try private browsing or disabling loyalty accounts, but meaningful protection will likely require a federal disclosure mandate or a ban similar to those being considered elsewhere, because current regulations and the Competition Bureau’s remit are ill‑suited to curb this opaque practice.

Read more: https://theconversation.com/your-browsing-history-could-soon-set-your-grocery-bill-and-canada-isnt-ready-for-it-281618

#NDP #Liberals #CompetitionBureau #CompetitionAct #AlgorithmicPricing

The only power that a capitalist society allows you to have is the power of whatever money you’re left with after they extract their taxes, fees, and licensing, and everything else… use what little you have left wisely. BOYCOTT gratuitously. The absence of your carefree spending is the only thing they care about.

This seems like one of those things. BOYCOTT any and every company implementing algorithmic pricing. It’s obviously unfair and should be illegal.

#boycott #algorithmicpricing

NDP to push motion urging ban on algorithmic pricing in House of Commons

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://globalnews.ca/news/11802437/algorithmic-pricing-ban-ndp-motion/