NYC Council bans ‘surveillance pricing’ that has customers’ data used against them

Detailed summary

The City Council passed a bill to prohibit “surveillance pricing” Thursday, blocking companies from using browsing data to charge customers different prices for the same product.

The City Council passed a bill to prohibit “surveillance pricing” Thursday, blocking companies from using browsing data to charge customers different prices for the same product.

The bill was one of several pieces of legislation that lawmakers took up during their meeting Thursday, as they opted into a state program to exempt disabled veterans from property taxes while discussing a proposal to address terminal vacancies in rent-stabilized units.

The surveillance pricing law, which has the support of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, easily passed the Democrat-dominated council in a 44-5 vote.

“There are many factors that are driving up costs,” City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who sponsored the bill, said at City Hall ahead of the vote. “Some of them are quite obvious to consumers, but a more subtle reason is the insidious and predatory corporate practice of surveillance pricing.

“For different consumers that are shopping at the exact same time, companies set different prices for the exact same product, taking advantage of their demographics, web browsing history, and shopping habits, as well as their social media activity, all to make New Yorkers pay more,” she added.

Critics of the bill were concerned the regulations would harm small businesses. But the final language of the bill allows wiggle room for smaller companies.

Larger companies would be immediately hit with a $1,000 fine for violating the new pricing law — but small businesses will have the opportunity to first present an action plan to remedy any missteps.

A new bill under consideration would address the city’s over 50,000 vacant rent-stabilized apartments that have remained empty despite the city facing a vacancy of only 1.4%. Critics say landlords are “warehousing” units, intentionally keeping them empty rather than renting them out.

The newly introduced bill, sponsored by Brooklyn Council Member Farah Louis (D-45), would require the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to analyze and develop a plan over…

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