ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — In New York, the proposed Preventing Algorithmic Pricing Discrimination Act would hamstring programs that set unfair prices using personal data. Democratic Bronx Assemblymember Emérita Torres unveiled the bill, an effort to protect consumers from surveillance and deceptive price hikes.
“Your price shouldn’t be determined by your ZIP code, race, or income level,” Torres said. “Consumers have the right to know if they are being digitally profiled and charged more than someone else for the same product or service.”
The legislation, S7033 / A6765A , defines “algorithm” broadly as a computational process that uses a set of rules. “Consumer data” means any information that could link, directly or indirectly, to a person or device—though location data is specifically left out of that definition. “Dynamic pricing” means that prices update in near real-time to reflect the algorithm…