WASHINGTON, D.C. – Has this day and age of technology and electronic surveillance given rise to an electronic pickpocket?
Companies that use personal data to determine what an individual consumer is willing to or possibly capable of paying are being warned by the Federal Trade Commission. The undisclosed collection or use of personal data for the purpose of personalized pricing could violate the FTC Act, which prohibits unfair or deceptive practices in the marketplace.
“When consumers see a listed price, they expect it to be the same price that everyone else sees, not the retailer’s estimate of how much they are willing to pay based on their personal data,” said FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson in a press release last week.
“The FTC does not have the legal authority to ban personalized pricing in all circumstances, but businesses that fail to tell consumers how their personal data is being used to set a price may be in violation of the FTC Act and other laws we enforce,” he said.
Ferguson announced that public comment is being sought on the issue. Comments can be posted at regulations. gov/comment/FTC2026-1057-0025 until 10:59 p.m. CST Sept. 18, 2026.
“I didn’t know this type of deceptive and misleading pricing tactic was being used until I saw a YouTube video about it. The creator showed, in real time, the difference in price, on the same product/ same website, showing one thing on his phone and differently on his friend’s phone. They were literally sitting next to each other in the same vehicle!,” Christina Smith from California posted on the website Aug. 20.
The FTC released a Proposed Enforcement Policy Statement regarding personalized pricing on their website Aug. 19. In part it states that, “Congress has not given the Commission the authority to prohibit personalized pricing in all circumstances, but the Commission intends to enforce the law aggressively against any deceptive or unfair personalized pricing practices that violate Section 5 of the FTC Act or any other law enforced by the Commission.”
It cited a “growing public concern that modern data collection and processing capabilities can allow businesses to set personalized prices based on analysis of consumers’ personal data and resulting conclusions, such as estimates of how much an individual consumer is willing to pay for a product or whether that consumer is likely to engage in comparison shopping.”
The FTC statement also addressed the concern that “consumers generate, and countless firms collect and purchase, data reflecting every facet of our lives, these data can reveal ‘some of our most intimate details – our identities, interests, locations, credit histories, medical conditions, sexual interests, and religious and political views.
“Many Americans do not understand just how much data they generate every second of their lives. Nor do they necessarily understand how those data are collected and stored, to whom they may be sold, or how they may be used – including, potentially, to price products and services uniquely for them on the basis of their intimate details,” the FTC statement said.
“FTC also must make it clear that facial recognition, Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) are 4th Amendment protected, and therefore may not under any circumstances be collected by any retailer for any reason, whether it is used to determine customized pricing, or not. While technology in some cases is useful, this has gone too far past the creepy line,” Jason Ashby from Missouri posted on the FTC website Aug. 21.
Other comments from consumers around the nation include posts stating that apps are “data sponges, soaking up personal information to generate the max price a person is willing to pay.” Another post said, “All of us do not have time to purchase items like it is a stock on the Dow Jones Industrial Avg.”
Again, public comments will be accepted on the FTC website until Sept. 18.