1. United States
2. Ill.
3. Letter

I’m writing to ask you to support strong legislation banning surveillance-based individualized pricing in Illinois, including SB 2255. A price should be a price. Consumers should not be charged differently because an algorithm has analyzed their location, shopping habits, purchase history, personal characteristics, or other data and determined what it thinks they are willing to pay. And simply giving consumers an “opt out” is not adequate protection. My elderly aunts and neighbors should not have to understand surveillance pricing, data brokers, algorithms, or app settings to make sure they aren’t being overcharged for groceries. In fact, the people least likely to understand or discover surveillance pricing may also be the people least able to absorb the higher price. Large corporations now have incredibly sophisticated AI and enormous amounts of consumer data at their disposal. Everyday Illinoisans do not have equivalent tools to determine whether they are being treated fairly. That imbalance makes this exactly the kind of issue that requires consumer protection. Businesses can set their prices. They should not be able to secretly set a different price for each of us based on what they know about us. Please help Illinois move meaningful legislation banning surveillance-based pricing forward. Our government should protect the people it represents, not leave individual consumers to defend themselves against increasingly sophisticated corporate surveillance.