A San Diego assemblymember has introduced a bill that prohibits businesses from using a customer’s personal information to adjust the price of a good or service.
San Diego Assm. Chris Ward, a Democrat, said he introduced Assembly Bill 446 to protect consumers from “surveillance price gouging” at a time when many people cannot afford basic necessities.
The practice, also known as surveillance pricing, uses a customer’s individualized data profile to change the price of a product depending on information like their location or browser history.
“The right to fair pricing should not be a privilege for the few but a fundamental protection for all,” Ward said. “One customer, one price.”
Californians have some of the strongest privacy protections in the country under the California Consumer Privacy Act, but no federal or state law prohibits companies from using data they collect to change their own internal pricing.
In a statement about the bill, Ward cited a 2022 lawsuit where San Diego County settled a $5 million lawsuit against Target for engaging in false advertising and unfair competition.
Prosecutors found that prices posted for various items on the Target website and app changed without clear disclosure when a customer entered the perimeter of the store.
One incident involved a television on the Target app that was priced at $499.99, but once the person entered the company’s parking lot the price went up by $100.
A 2025 study by the Federal Trade Commission found that details like a person’s precise location or browser history were frequently used to target individuals with varying prices.
One hypothetical in the study outlined a person who was profiled as a new parent, who subsequently may intentionally be shown higher priced baby thermometers on the first page of their search results.
The surveillance pricing bill is sponsored by the United Food and Commercial Workers.
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