Maryland passes legislation banning retailers from using personal data to set prices. Does it do enough?; WAMU, April 17, 2026

Esther Ciammichilli, Jackson Sinnenberg, WAMU; Maryland passes legislation banning retailers from using personal data to set prices. Does it do enough?

"The Maryland General Assembly passed a bill this week will prohibit food retailers from changing the price of their products – in real time – depending on who is buying them. The practice is called dynamic pricing. 

The new legislation is expected to be signed into law by Governor Wes Moore, who introduced it with leaders in the General Assembly. It will specifically prohibit retailers from using personal protected data to set prices for individual customers. This kind of data includes biometric information like ethnicity, sex, and gender identity...

What made Governor Wes Moore and the assembly leadership want to tackle dynamic pricing during this session?

Well, I think we’ve seen over the last several years this sort of catch up that we’re doing. Technology is moving so fast and the tech companies are finding more and more ways to exploit, really, the data, the algorithms, what they know about us in ways that are really harmful to consumers.

Over the last few years we’ve had several bills that are about protecting biodynamics, protecting consumer privacy, protecting the use of data without people’s permission. I think over the last year we saw a new way that these tech companies and these large corporations are finding ways to combine data brokers, private personal data, in a way that’s really harmful to consumers, in a way that really exploits consumers. And so this year, this is what we tackled.

During the final debate over the bill last week, you said, “One of the largest corporations in the world is announcing to their shareholders technology which they will patent to be able to adjust prices based on personal data.” Can you elaborate on the details of that announcement?

Yeah, so, you know, Walmart is …  they’re not going to have paper tags on their grocery stores anymore on there for for their prices. They’re gonna have these little screens that can change immediately. Digital screens to price your milk and your eggs and flour and and whatever else.

But what this technology allows them to do ultimately is to figure out who’s standing in front of that screen and change the price based on who you are. And that’s really the thing that we’re trying to get ahead of with this legislation."

ALA, IMLS Sponsored Privacy Field Guides Launched; Library Journal, February 17, 2022

Matt Enis , Library Journal ; ALA, IMLS Sponsored Privacy Field Guides Launched

"The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), in partnership with the American Library Association (ALA), recently sponsored the development and publication of a series of seven Privacy Field Guides. Designed to offer practical information and hands-on exercises for public, academic, and K–12 librarians, the seven guides cover digital security basics, how to talk about privacy with patrons, non-tech privacy, data lifecycles, privacy audits, privacy policies, and vendors and privacy.

Patron privacy—as well as consumer privacy more broadly—has been a longstanding concern within the library field, and many library-specific books, articles, workshops, and other resources are available on the topic. However, as project co-leads Bonnie Tijerina, founder of the Electronic Resources & Libraries conference and fellow at the Data & Society Institute, NY; and Erin Berman, division director, Learning Group, Alameda County Library, CA, and current chair of ALA’s Intellectual Freedom Committee (IFC) Privacy Subcommittee, wrote in their grant proposal: “While a plethora of information exists about how to institute privacy policies and procedures in libraries, it is difficult to navigate and hard to use.” Much of the content “is too dense and academic to be useful to frontline staff. The Privacy Advocacy Guides seek to eliminate the barriers libraries face when trying to create a privacy conscious organization.”

“We have information overload,” said Becky Yoose, founder and library data privacy consultant at LDH Consulting Services, WA, and one of the authors of the guides. “You have people who want to do something with privacy at their library, they just don’t know where to start. They don’t know which topics to start with, how to start, and more importantly, how to communicate things about privacy to coworkers, administrators, the public, partners, [or] vendors. These field guides are primarily…practical introductions into key privacy topics for all library types.”

Another author, Emily Ray, electronic resources librarian for the University of North Florida, added that many articles on privacy point out problems and troubling developments without offering practical solutions, while others that offer solutions are often targeted at an audience with technical expertise."

U.S. Agency Seeks Tougher Consumer Privacy Rules; New York Times, 3/26/12

Tanzina Vega and Edward Wyatt, New York Times; U.S. Agency Seeks Tougher Consumer Privacy Rules:

"[T]he Federal Trade Commission, called on Congress to enact legislation regulating so-called data brokers, which compile and trade a wide range of personal and financial data about millions of consumers from online and offline sources. The legislation would give consumers access to information collected about them and allow them to correct and update such data.

The agency also sent a cautionary signal to technology and advertising companies regarding a “Do Not Track” mechanism that allows consumers to opt out of having their online behavior monitored and shared. It warned that if companies did not voluntarily provide a satisfactory Do Not Track option, it would support additional laws that mandate it.