Today, the Federal Trade Commission launched an investigation into surveillance pricing, ordering information from eight companies on the practice in a 5-0 vote. The orders were sent to Mastercard, Revionics, Bloomreach, JPMorgan Chase, Task Software, PROS, Accenture, and McKinsey & Co. Groundwork’s Executive Director Lindsay Owens applauded the action in the following statement:
“Surveillance pricing isn’t new, but new technologies like better data collection and smarter algorithms are turbocharging it and costing Americans a small fortune.
“Today’s investigation is an important step in cracking down on the methods big corporations use to spy on consumers to rip them off.”
