Most of the things you interact with online are tracking your location, your device type, and your digital footprint to predict exactly how desperate you are to buy something. If the algorithm thinks you have money, or simply lack options, it alters the price in real-time.
To prove how widespread “surveillance pricing” has become, I decided to see if I could outsmart it. This involved exploiting corporate registry loopholes to create a fake corporate entity, hiring an improv actor off Craigslist to establish a completely separate digital identity, and strapping a burner phone to a drone to make purchases from the airspace above the wealthiest gated community in Minnesota.
The truth is no one except those inside the companies determining pricing really knows. And it can change at anytime if they find some new price discrimination data point to exploit. In the video they say it basically comes down to a desperation score.
My guess/sense at this moment is that it’s slightly better as the type of person willing to learn and explore the privacy options and settings and have a little extra income to put towards them will be aware of shopping alternatives and therefore have a lower desperation score