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The price tag of you

12 snips
Aug 26, 2025
Sam Levine, a consumer rights advocate at Berkeley's Center for Consumer Law and Economic Justice, dives deep into the unsettling world of personalized pricing. He reveals how companies exploit consumer data to manipulate prices, drawing parallels to airline ticket pricing strategies. The discussion highlights the ethical concerns surrounding surveillance pricing and the role of data brokers in eroding privacy. Levine also addresses the diminishing power of consumer protection agencies and the urgent need for transparency in an increasingly monitored society.
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ANECDOTE

Shopping Story From The South Bronx

  • Emerita Torres learned about personalized pricing from neighbors' stories about different prices for the same item.
  • She then noticed diaper prices vary by device and timing when she shopped herself.
INSIGHT

From Targeted Ads To Tailored Prices

  • Companies now use personal data to set individualized prices called personalized or surveillance pricing.
  • This shifts markets from one-price-fits-all to a world of one person, one price.
INSIGHT

Data Brokers Are The Plumbing

  • Data brokers collect vast dossiers that power surveillance pricing behind the scenes.
  • The FTC investigated price-optimizers and found hundreds of clients across many industries using data-driven pricing.
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