From airline tickets and e-commerce to rideshares and food delivery, some companies are quietly using your personal data to decide how much you pay — and it could mean you’re paying more than the person next to you.
France Bélanger, a University Distinguished Professor in the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech, is an expert on privacy and surveillance pricing — a growing practice where businesses use consumer behavior, market trends, competitor prices, and real-time data to tailor costs to each individual.
“If you’re logged into your preferred airline account, they know your flight history, how often you fly, whether you travel for business or leisure, and even which routes you rarely skip,” Bélanger explained. “That tells them how flexible you are and how high they can set the price.”
Currently, there is no regulation on companies using surveillance pricing, which may cause consumers to pay more.
“Many large companies do not want to change how they use consumer data,” Bélanger said. “They are building detailed profiles for each consumer. Some will use these to market targeted products, while others may use the data to encourage us to pay more. Clearly, this type of strategy benefits the company far more than the consumer.”
According to Bélanger, consumers may either not be aware of this happening or have developed a societal tolerance for individual pricing.
“We are already used to not paying the same price for a seat on a plane or a rideshare service. Companies can now maximize the data available to them, paired with artificial intelligence, to monitor their online behavior for tailored pricing,” she said.
Bélanger offers these tips to combat surveillance pricing and increase your online privacy:
- Turn off location tracking so prices are not based on your location.
- Use incognito mode on a browser to limit sites from accessing search and preferences data.
- Search with an aggregator first, such as Google Flights, when purchasing airline tickets.
“The best way to protect yourself is to avoid giving away more information than necessary, ” she added. “We all make choices that allow our data to be captured by organizations; however, everyone should reflect on what is really needed by the sites you use before you allow that data to be shared.”
