The United States Federal Trade Commission has ordered eight companies to provide information the agency said was offering products and services that use personal data to set prices based on a shopper's individual characteristics. 

The Associated Press reported that the antitrust watchdog is investigating what was called the "opaque market" of "surveillance pricing" from Mastercard, Revionics, Bloomreach, JPMorgan Chase, Task Software, PROS, Accenture, and McKinsey & Co.

The agency added that the companies acquire the services of third-party intermediaries, which claim to use advanced algorithms, artificial intelligence (AI), and other technology. 

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FTC to Investigate Surveillance Pricing Scheme

In a statement Tuesday (July 23), FTC chair Lina M. Khan said that firms that "harvest" personal data could risk the privacy of American users, and that firms could be "exploiting" such personal data to "charge people higher prices."

Khan added that the agency's inquiry would also look into shedding light on what it claimed as a "shadowy ecosystem of pricing middlemen."

In response to the FTC summons, Revionics sent a statement to AP Tuesday indicating that it "does not develop" surveillance pricing software in order to target specific individuals. It also denied allegations that it was using individual consumer data at all. 

Mastercard confirmed that it received the FTC's request and would cooperate with the process. The other six firms named by the agency are yet to comment. 

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