The FTC has shared a new concern about how big organizations including Mastercard and JPMorgan Chase are using and exploiting customers’ personal data to attain monetary gains.
This is why they’re busy investigating an endeavor called surveillance pricing where vendors have the capability of tapping into the information in disguise so users pay more during checkout.
The American regulator mentioned a list of eight middlemen firms to show greater transparency and display their computer algorithms where people’s personal data is used and how that impacts pricing.
Exploitation of user data is unlawful as it is and to make use of that for the sake of charging them higher prices is shocking, the chairman of the FTC revealed on Tuesday. So many Americans have no idea of what’s going on behind the scenes and how their information is used for all the wrong reasons to display surveillance prices.
The list included Accenture, Revionics, and Mastercard. PROS, Bloomreach, JPMorgan Chase, McKinsey & Co amongst so many others. This is to help firms personalize products for clients. However, similar capabilities can ensure dynamic pricing to impact a product’s price depending on the types of opaque factors on offer.
The FTC added how this is part of ongoing research and therefore shouldn’t be considered as enforced actions taking place. However, the commission is worried about how pricing surveillance is used throughout the industry and how there’s no public awareness.
This could mean that more and more clients are subjected to the likes of more surveillance pricing tactics while shopping for anything online or at the store. It could be something as small as household groceries or big like houses and vehicles. For now, the probe from the FTC says it hopes to dig down deeper for more details on the matter of what data is used by users and how vendors are setting up prices based on this information.
The FTC hopes to attain a response from the respective companies outlined in the list soon. They hope the firms can justify the sort of exploitation taking place here because, at the end of the day, we’re talking about unlawful practice to make financial gains. And the consumer is at the losing end of the spectrum as they’re clueless about what’s taking place behind the scenes.
Image: DIW-Aigen
Read next: Does Meta’s Algorithm Deliver Troubling Content Without Oversight To Young Men? This Study Has The Answer
This is why they’re busy investigating an endeavor called surveillance pricing where vendors have the capability of tapping into the information in disguise so users pay more during checkout.
The American regulator mentioned a list of eight middlemen firms to show greater transparency and display their computer algorithms where people’s personal data is used and how that impacts pricing.
Exploitation of user data is unlawful as it is and to make use of that for the sake of charging them higher prices is shocking, the chairman of the FTC revealed on Tuesday. So many Americans have no idea of what’s going on behind the scenes and how their information is used for all the wrong reasons to display surveillance prices.
The list included Accenture, Revionics, and Mastercard. PROS, Bloomreach, JPMorgan Chase, McKinsey & Co amongst so many others. This is to help firms personalize products for clients. However, similar capabilities can ensure dynamic pricing to impact a product’s price depending on the types of opaque factors on offer.
The FTC added how this is part of ongoing research and therefore shouldn’t be considered as enforced actions taking place. However, the commission is worried about how pricing surveillance is used throughout the industry and how there’s no public awareness.
This could mean that more and more clients are subjected to the likes of more surveillance pricing tactics while shopping for anything online or at the store. It could be something as small as household groceries or big like houses and vehicles. For now, the probe from the FTC says it hopes to dig down deeper for more details on the matter of what data is used by users and how vendors are setting up prices based on this information.
The FTC hopes to attain a response from the respective companies outlined in the list soon. They hope the firms can justify the sort of exploitation taking place here because, at the end of the day, we’re talking about unlawful practice to make financial gains. And the consumer is at the losing end of the spectrum as they’re clueless about what’s taking place behind the scenes.
Read next: Does Meta’s Algorithm Deliver Troubling Content Without Oversight To Young Men? This Study Has The Answer
