New Jersey approves landmark consumer protection law against 'surveillance pricing'

In a major update New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill has signed the Fair Price Protection Act into law, officially making New Jersey one of the first states in the nation to ban the controversial practice of "surveillance pricing".

The Fair Price Protection Act passed by New Jersey’s legislature seeks to protect consumers from surveillance pricing, in which retailers can use data including online activity, location and purchasing history to arbitrarily change prices for individual shoppers.

The law prohibits grocery stores and retailers from using consumers' personal data such as digital search history, location data, browsing habits, biometric information, or purchasing history to set individualized or fluctuating prices for identical items.

“New Jersey families are already feeling the pressure of higher costs,” Sherrill said in a statement after signing the law. “The last thing they need is companies secretly using their personal data to charge them more than someone else for the exact same product."

New Jersey joins Maryland and Connecticut as the third state to explicitly outlaw surveillance pricing, with similar legislation pending in New York.

Violations fall under New Jersey's Consumer Fraud Act, carrying penalties of up to $10,000 for a first offense and $20,000 for subsequent violations.

Notably, the law includes a "private right of action," allowing individual consumers to take legal action against violators in court.