By Don Davis
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WASHINGTON, D.C. (KGUN) — Senator Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) introduced landmark legislation Tuesday aimed squarely at what he calls “surveillance pricing,” a practice in which companies use consumers’ personal data and artificial intelligence to charge different customers different prices for the same product at the same time.
The One Fair Price Act would bar businesses from setting individualized prices based on a customer’s data — everything from location and device type to other personal details — and would make it unlawful to charge one shopper more than another for the same item at the same moment. Gallego framed the bill by saying: “When you go to the grocery store, you expect to pay the exact same price for milk as the person in line behind you,” he said. “Greedy corporations are compiling Americans’ personal data and using AI to find their ‘pain point’ — the maximum they’re willing to pay. That’s not fair pricing, that’s predatory pricing. My bill puts an end to it.”
Gallego’s push follows initial findings from a Federal Trade Commission surveillance-pricing study released earlier this year that documented widespread use of personal information to tailor prices online. The FTC investigation was later canceled under the previous administration, a development Gallego and allies have cited as part of the urgency behind legislative action.
The bill has drawn support from consumer advocates and antimonopoly groups. Lee Hepner, senior legal counsel at the American Economic Liberties Project, called surveillance pricing “dystopian” and said the legislation would “restore sanity to our economy” while preserving legitimate discounts and predictable pricing.
Gallego — who previously pressed Delta about moving toward AI-based fare pricing, urged the FTC to investigate rental-pricing software RealPage, and sponsored legislation aimed at eliminating hidden fees — described the One Fair Price Act as the latest step in a broader campaign to protect consumers from opaque, technology-enabled pricing tactics.
The legislation’s passage will require approval by Congress and could likely prompt pushback from retailers and tech firms that rely on dynamic pricing models.
If it advances, the bill would mark one of the first federal limits on algorithm-driven, individualized price discrimination — a fast-evolving area as retailers increasingly deploy AI to set offers and ads in real time. Supporters say the measure would curb predatory practices that disproportionately harm less-affluent consumers; critics may argue it could limit legitimate, pro-competitive uses of dynamic pricing.
For now, the One Fair Price Act puts surveillance pricing squarely on the legislative agenda and sets up a likely clash over how far the federal government should go to regulate algorithmic uses of personal data in commerce.
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