Your Data Says You Can Pay More: Welcome to Surveillance Pricing

You and your partner are booking the same flight, on the same night, from the same couch. His price is $50 cheaper than yours.

Without your knowledge, an algorithm scanned your browsing history, flagged your iPhone as a premium device and decided you’d probably pay more.

It’s called surveillance pricing, and it’s legal in most of Canada. That means retailers could soon use your personal data to determine the prices you pay — if they don’t already.

If that makes your skin crawl, know that there are a few things you can do about it.

Dynamic pricing with a creepy new twist

While surveillance pricing may be an unfamiliar concept for most Canadians, it’s really just a new take on a common tactic: dynamic pricing.

Companies have long used dynamic or “algorithmic” pricing via software to gauge consumer demand and adjust prices in real time, says Eddie Ning, assistant professor of marketing and behavioral science at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Uber, for instance, uses “surge pricing” at times of peak demand, charging higher fares to all customers across the board. And we all know the pain of paying higher air fares during peak travel season.

But surveillance pricing takes dynamic pricing a step further. This is where things start to feel a little dystopian.

Instead of a rideshare company charging everyone more because it’s a busy Friday night, it’s charging you more because of what its algorithm knows about you. For instance, your income, location, ethnicity and favorite apps could all be used to determine what you’re willing to pay.

Ning says surveillance pricing is “really hard to catch,” but adds that it’s happening less frequently than people might assume. He says it’s more prevalent online than in physical stores.

So far, there haven’t been any confirmed examples of personalized surveillance pricing in Canada. But the U.S. has had several:

A problem waiting to happen?

If enough companies use the same providers’ algorithms to generate their prices, it could result in industrywide collusion to fix prices, says Pascale Chapdelaine, associate law professor at the University of Windsor in Windsor, Ontario.

“There's no reason to think that, if there's evidence in the U.S. and other places, that it wouldn't be happening in Canada. That's bottom line,” Chapdelaine says.

So far, little legislation exists to limit the use of surveillance pricing. Manitoba is the only province that has banned surveillance pricing outright in stores and online.

Bill 49, introduced by the province’s New Democratic Party (NDP) earlier this year, makes it an unfair business practice for suppliers to charge consumers higher prices based on personalized data. Similar NDP proposals in Parliament and in Ontario were voted down.

“People are already paying more every time they go to the grocery store, fill up their tank or order online,” Marit Stiles, Ontario NDP leader said in a statement after the proposal failed. “Now these companies are using personal data to quietly push prices even higher. It’s wrong, and people expect their government to step in and stop it.”

The Competition Bureau Canada hasn’t taken up the issue because it doesn’t regulate pricing. However, Chapdelaine says it would be beneficial to get federal clarification, “because when there’s a gray zone, people are going to exploit it.”

Why a ban on surveillance pricing may not work

Not everyone thinks a ban is the answer, including the people who represent Canada’s retailers.

In an April 2026 LinkedIn post, Kim Furlong, CEO of the Retail Council of Canada, pushed back on proposed surveillance pricing legislation.

“If poorly calibrated, such policies could reduce retailers’ ability to discount efficiently, increase waste — especially for perishable goods — raise overall prices by limiting pricing flexibility, and discourage innovation that improves affordability,” Furlong wrote.

Chapdelaine doesn’t propose a ban, either, but says algorithmic pricing should respect competition and consumers’ personal data.

But her general concerns over the use of that data — what’s being collected, who it’s being sold to and whether consumers realize any of this — raise an important question: Is silently surveilling customers so they can be charged more ever ethical?

Sticking it to the bots: How to get around surveillance pricing

Many of the data signals AI algorithms use against consumers for surveillance pricing come from your browsing behaviour. Some potential workarounds include:

Until more laws are enacted to prevent, or at least limit, companies from using personal data against the consumers who generate it, vigilance is all we have.