Roys Introduces Legislation to Prohibit Discriminatory Pricing

MADISON — Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) introduced legislation to reduce the price of groceries and other consumer goods by requiring fair, transparent, and nondiscriminatory pricing for these items. At a time of rapid inflation and high prices, consumers need a champion to lower costs.

With the advent of mass surveillance, data collection, and AI, many retailers are beginning to use deceptive and discriminatory methods to price goods differently based on who the consumer is. Retailers can now access intimate details about individual consumers – age, race, gender, salary, credit score, purchase history, and much more – to price goods differently based on the prospective buyer. This legislation will prevent the use of dynamic pricing at retail sellers, both in person, and online, ensuring fairness for all Wisconsin consumers.

Sen. Roys issued the following statement about this legislation:

“Today, big retailers are taking advantage of our mass surveillance state and AI to charge different prices to different people based on who you are. That’s not fair, and it’s not good for our economy. All Wisconsin families deserve to know that the price they pay at the grocery store or online is the same price their neighbor will pay.

“Corporations are collaborating in secret to amass massive amounts of data without meaningful permission or oversight and then feeding that data into AI algorithms designed to maximize profit and extract the highest possible price from each wallet for every widget. The result is jacked up prices. This is dystopian and makes a mockery of the free market.

“Fairness, transparency, and competition are needed for markets to function. There’s nothing acceptable about discriminatory pricing that lets retailers use your race, salary, credit, or purchase history to have AI charge you more than the person who purchased the same product right before you.

“The cost of living is already rising at unsustainable rates for Wisconsinites, and dynamic pricing is making it worse. This bill will help lower the cost of groceries and household goods, and is a necessary consumer protection against unfair practices by big corporations.”

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.