collapse of the old society

I still remember the low-grade shock I felt a decade ago when I learned that price discrimination is often perfectly legal in the United States. In law school, my antitrust professor introduced us to the obscure Depression-era Robinson-Patman Antidiscrimination Act by quickly highlighting that this law very much failed to live up to its title. Under the long-standing law, companies can face ruinous penalties for price discrimination only if they're discriminating against other businesses.

That's so American.

In February, the retail behemoth agreed to buy the smart-TV maker Vizio for more than $2 billion, potentially giving Walmart a windfall of intimate consumer data. Smart TVs not only monitor what we watch with Orwellian precision but track other nearby devices with ultrasonic beacons, and can even listen in to what we say in the privacy of our own homes. Vizio specifically has been fined millions of dollars over allegations that it illegally spied on customers.

https://web.archive.org/web/20240718090931/https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-quietly-picking-your-pocket-with-personalized-pricing-2024-7

I remember discussing this in business school in the 90s. Airlines mostly have it working; you can see it from time to time on Amazon…. But use my sweet summer children; this is what every industry would kill to have

This is a great reason to smudge your digital fingerprint.

I'm pretty confident my paid VPN pays for itself every month in my not being over charged quite as badly.