New Delhi, Nov. 13 -- New York City has passed legislation banning companies from using consumers' personal data to charge different prices for identical products and services. On November 12, the New York City Council voted 44-5 to approve a bill that would end the practice of "surveillance pricing", which is backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

The legislation, sponsored by City Council Speaker Julie Menin, is designed to stop companies from using a customer's browsing habits, shopping behaviour, demographics and social media habits to target each customer with an individual price. Announcing the decision in a post on X (formerly Twitter), Mamdani said the practice could make customers pay more for the same product. He also joked that his d...