Author Lindsay Owens's book "Gouged" puts surveillance pricing in the spotlight

Lindsay Owens has published a book, "Gouged: The End of a Fair Price and What That Means for Your Wallet", about how companies use data and software to set prices. 1 2 Owens is CEO of Groundwork Collaborative, a Washington DC think tank and corporate watchdog, and previously worked as an economic policy adviser in Senator Elizabeth Warren's office, according to Wired. 1 On NBC's TODAY, Owens said companies overcharge through "price experiments", in which prices change randomly between customers. 2

Owens also said some companies use "surveillance or personalized pricing", charging based on a customer's data, to raise profits. 2 In a Wired interview, Owens described surveillance pricing as personalized pricing, in which a company uses personal information to estimate a customer's willingness to pay, which Owens said is not the same as ability to pay. 1 Owens said that after requesting the data McDonald's holds on them from app use, they received a 515-page dossier. 1

Owens said generative AI shopping agents could make the problem worse, citing Walmart's statement that Sparky cart totals are 35 percent higher than non-Sparky totals. 1 On regulation, Owens said there has been more movement in the states, naming Connecticut, New Jersey and Maryland as having passed laws, and called the issue nonpartisan. 1 Owens suggested consumers compare prices within a brand, logged in versus logged out and app versus website, and said their organization exposed an Instacart A/B testing experiment. 1