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ARTICLE · 26 AUGUST 2026

"(I Always Feel Like) Somebody's Watching Me"

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The Federal Trade Commission has issued a proposed enforcement policy statement targeting businesses that use consumer data to set individualized prices, a practice known as "surveillance pricing." The agency warns it will aggressively pursue companies engaging in deceptive or unfair personalized pricing practices, requiring clear disclosure when prices are tailored to individuals based on their personal information.

United StatesConsumer Protection
Eric Berman
Eric Berman
Daniel Blynn
Daniel Blynn
Elisabeth Lewis
Elisabeth Lewis

In 1983, Rockwell (with a little help from Michael Jackson) sang that he was "just an average man with an average life," and all he wanted was "to be left alone in [his] average home," but questioned why he "always feel[s] like [he's] in The Twilight Zone?" Rockwell came around to his famous chorus: "I always feel like somebody's watchin' me; and I have no privacy." Forty-plus years later, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) paid some lip service to Rockwell and his concerns. On August 19, 2026, the FTC issued a proposed enforcement policy statement addressing businesses' use of consumer data, such as purchasing and online browsing histories, to set individualized prices (the "Statement")—referred to by many as "surveillance pricing" and as "personalized pricing" by the current Commission. In its Statement, the FTC acknowledges that it does not have statutory authority to prohibit all forms of personalized pricing, but states that it will "aggressively" pursue personalized-pricing

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