Seattle City Council votes to ban surveillance pricing in sale of groceries

The Seattle City Council has passed the Fair Pricing and Transparency Act (CB 121267), a landmark piece of legislation that would ban personalized pricing in the sale of groceries. Consumer Reports, which provided technical support during the bill's creation and supported it with a letter, played a crucial role in the legislation's development.

The bill prohibits the use of a consumer's personal data, such as web-browsing history, real-time location, income, family size, and health conditions, to alter grocery prices. It also permits various discounting methods while mandating transparency around discounts and placing restrictions on consumer profiling. According to Grace Gedye, senior policy analyst at Consumer Reports, "Nobody should pay more for basic necessities because a data broker is quietly collecting information about what they're searching for online, what they hover over, what their income is, or where they go."

The bill is the first of its kind to pass at a city level and now awaits Mayor Wilson's signature. Other states, including Maryland, Connecticut, and New Jersey, have also taken steps to ban surveillance pricing. Consumer Reports previously found that major retailers like Kroger and Instacart were collecting extensive data profiles on individual shoppers, which led to significant price discrepancies for the same products.

Instacart subsequently ended a program that allowed for different shoppers to see varying prices for groceries.