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The FTC's proposed policy statement would require companies to disclose when a price was personalized using consumers' data, including why and what data was used. We commend the FTC for acting, but disclosure alone can't cure the harms.

Surveillance pricing meets every element of the FTC Act's unfairness test. It causes substantial injury, consumers can't reasonably avoid it, and the harm isn't outweighed by benefits to consumers or competition.

As our comment explains: "[D]isclosure does not solve any of these three elements because it does not lower the price charged, does not return the data collected, and does not give consumers a realistic path to act on the information once received."

New York's Algorithmic Pricing Disclosure Act shows the problem in practice. Companies are placing the required disclosures below the checkout button or behind info icons, where shoppers can finish a purchase without ever seeing them.