Big-box retailers jack up the price of goods between the time you set foot in the parking lot to when you get to the shopping aisle. Airline companies mine your personal data so they can squeeze as much fare money from you as possible. A grocery delivery app used what they called "price rounding" to arbitrarily increase the cost of a box of crackers by 23 percent. For-hire vehicle apps scrape your phones for reasons why you'd pay an extra $10 or $20 for a late-night ride home.
This kind of rotten, insidious, algorithm-boosted surveillance capitalism has become routine across most industries.
On Thursday, the City Council is expected to vote on a bill that aims to ban the practice in New York City.
Subscribe to read the full story
Become a paid subscriber to Hell Gate to access all of our posts.
Subscribe