Connecticut has banned surveillance pricing, stopping retailers from setting a custom price using your personal data and forcing a disclosure label when they do. It joins a small but growing group of US states turning on personalised pricing.
The quiet trick of charging different people different prices for the same thing just got a warning label.
Connecticut has signed a law that bans surveillance pricing, the practice of setting a custom price for a shopper based on personal data. The state signed SB 4 on 27 May, and it joins a small but growing group of US states moving against personalised pricing alongside Maryland and New York.
The law stops retailers and third-party delivery services from pricing off personal data. Where a business does use a price setting device, it must show the shopper a blunt disclosure that the price was increased by a device using their personal data, unless the device is only ever used to offer a discount. The pricing provisions take effect on 1 October.
The US states now moving to rein in surveillance pricing, with Connecticut the latest. Source: EPIC and Hunton, June 2026.
Why it matters
Personalised pricing has been creeping into retail and delivery for years, usually without the shopper knowing. Regulators are now treating it as a trust problem, not just a privacy one. The disclosure requirement is the sharp part. Few brands want a label telling a customer their price went up because of their data.
Australia is not bound by Connecticut law, but the direction of travel matters. The ACCC has already shown its appetite for chasing opaque pricing and dark patterns. A practice that earns a warning label in the US is a reputational risk here long before it becomes a legal one.
What to do about it
Personalised pricing built on personal data is moving from clever tactic to regulatory target. Get ahead of it.