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Companies Know Exactly What You’ll Pay
From Mac users paying more for hotels to AI analyzing your digital footprint: The evolution of surveillance pricing.
It has been known for some time that on the Internet, it’s increasingly common to charge different prices to each customer, depending on various factors. What has changed is that this practice is becoming so widespread, and has reached such a point, that even the Federal Trade Commission of the USA has issued a warning to the population to keep it in mind.
“On Orbitz, Mac Users Steered to Pricier Hotels”
— The Wall Street Journal
One of the first such stories emerged back in 2012 in a news article that I still remember: the travel company Orbitz charged higher hotel prices to Mac users than to Windows users.
The main reason I remember this news is because I had a Mac, and news like this made me think. And I have to admit it, I was also pestered. I remember that at that time I looked for a browser extension to change the Agent that the browser sent to avoid this discrimination.
“Websites Vary Prices, Deals Based on Users’ Information”
— The Wall Street Journal
