The increased use of artificial intelligence (AI) throughout the economy in the midst of an affordability crisis is leaving consumers feeling “helpless” and “fearful.” The desire to exert democratic control over data driven pricing practices is growing. In 2026, over 40 surveillance- and dynamic-pricing bills were introduced in statehouses throughout the U.S., and laws regulating these practices were passed in Connecticut, Maryland, and New Jersey. But the devil is in the details with definitions, exemptions, and what practices are actually prohibited. As algorithmic pricing practices have become more widespread and notorious, the vocabulary describing the various practices is often used loosely or incorrectly. The confusion has even seeped into policy, where certain laws have labeled one practice as another, such as labeling surveillance pricing as dynamic pricing. 

The goals of this issue briefing, developed by Consumer Federation of America and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, are to provide definitions and examples for pricing-related harms and aggregate real-world examples of surveillance pricing and other predatory data-driven pricing practices. Once advocates and policymakers have a shared vocabulary and understanding of how these practices show up in the real world, facilitating solutions will become a less daunting task.

Art credit: Emily Rand & LOTI / https://betterimagesofai.org / https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/