Pittsburgh – June 29, 2026 – Senator Lindsey M. Williams (D-Allegheny) announced that she has introduced legislation to ban surveillance pricing in Pennsylvania.
Surveillance pricing is digital price manipulation that uses an individual’s harvested or purchased personal data and then uses that information to set customized prices. This can result in different customers being charged dramatically different prices for the same goods and services, at the same store, at the same time.
“No one believes the grocery store clerk should be allowed to add 10% to your bill because of what you wore to the store,” said Senator Williams. “But that’s exactly what happens in surveillance pricing. You’re being charged more because of who you are, not because the item is more valuable.”
Maryland, Connecticut, California, and New York have already passed laws banning surveillance pricing. 20 other states and the Federal government have introduced more than 40 surveillance pricing bills. Last week, a class action lawsuit was filed in California under their new law, alleging that a corporation is helping fix gas station prices by pooling data.
Investigative reports have found that Instacart, Target, Delta, and other online travel booking companies are conducting artificial intelligence-enabled price experiments on their customers. These “algorithmic pricing” experiments involve giving different prices to different customers for the same goods at the same store at the same time. Just this month, Consumer Reports issued a report showing that ride share companies routinely charged customers significantly different prices for the same rides.
“The goal of surveillance pricing is to push you towards the maximum you can pay,” said Senator Williams. “By prohibiting this kind of price fixing, we can reject an economy that is rigged by billionaire tech monopolies and algorithms and keep more money in Pennsylvanians’ pockets.”