I don't know if anyone reported, but it's an important news. It's about The Washington Post ...

[aggiesal]

The Washington Post Is Using Reader Data to Set Subscription Prices. How Does That Work?
Some subscribers recently received a heads-up that they're on the hook for a new rate "set by an algorithm using your personal data." We asked a UVA expert what that might mean.

Many Washington Post readers have been notified via email that their subscription rates are set to increase. Nestled at the bottom of these emails, you’ll find an asterisk and the following: “This price was set by an algorithm using your personal data.”

Link to tweet

We will start seeing this throughout everything we buy.
Welcome to the world of Ai.

[C_U_L8R]

1. As soon as people start comparing their prices with others

Bezos will see a lot more un-subscribes. What a dumb move.

[JBTaurus83]

2. I'm surprised

They have any subscribers left.

[paleotn]

14. Exactly.

[Pisces]

3. This is also happening with Uber. They charge you more if they see you have a low battery on your phone

because they think you are feeling more desperate. This is worse than dynamic pricing. It is AI pricing by how much they think you will pay for a service. Totally unethical and insane!!!

[LAS14]

5. Off the subject, but how does Uber know how much charge your phone has?

And why would a low battery correlate with charging higher fares?

[Qutzupalotl]

7. If I'm not mistaken, that is part of the data accessible by most websites,

including IP address of course, but also make/model of device, approximate location, OS version, and (I believe) battery level.

[erronis]

15. I don't believe you are correct on this. Please research and cite a good resource.

In any case, the response header data is up to the client browser to transmit and can be changed (in many cases) by the user.

This just doesn't smell right since much browsing is done away from mobile phones.

[Qutzupalotl]

16. HTML5 has a battery status API

that is accessible by websites: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/aug/03/privacy-smartphones-battery-life?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

[erronis]

19. Thanks! It's hard to stay up on all the HTML changes.

Especially those that the APIs allow. I'll see if Firefox (my browser preference) allows me to block these items.

Edited to say:
I guess this isn't a "new" HTML change since the Guardian article was published in 2015 and the HTML5 was implemented by major browsers in 2008-2009. Ooof - I'm getting old!

[aggiesal]

8. Since your battery is low, they think you're more desperate. ...

It's something like you're on vacation and you get a flat tire.
Since you need a new tire, suddenly that tire goes from $150 to $250.

If you're using the Uber app, they can read your battery level.
I'm sure they don't tell you that, when you download their app.

[aggiesal]

6. That's called Techflation. Look it up. n/t

[dalton99a]

11. +1

https://www.vice.com/en/article/uber-surge-pricing-phone-battery/

Uber Accused of Charging People More If Their Phone Battery Is Low
By VICE Staff
April 11, 2023, 12:06pm

The small study by the Belgian newspaper Dernière Heure looked at how the app changes its pricing for users in Brussels based on their battery.

The paper reported that 2 identical requests were made to go from and to the same location yet Uber charged 6 percent more for the journey that was made on a smartphone with only 12 percent battery remaining. The phone with 84 percent battery was charged €16.60 (£14.56, $18.10) for the journey from the newspaper’s offices to a nearby ferry terminal while the other phone was charged €17.56 (£15.41, $19.16).

“Uber does not take into account the phone’s battery level to calculate the price of a trip,” the company said in a statement to Dernière Heure. “The dynamic pricing applied to trips booked via Uber is determined by the existing demand for rides and the supply of drivers who can respond to it.”

This is not the first time the ride app has been accused of taking advantage of its users’ battery life. In 2016, Uber’s former head of economic research, Keith Chen, said in an interview with NPR that the company had found that people with lower battery levels were more willing to pay for surge pricing. Chen denied the company was specifically raising prices on these users, but some commentators voiced scepticism about why the company was monitoring battery life at all.

....

[bucolic_frolic]

4. On anything I buy, if I don't think I got the best deal, or one equivalent to all others offered

I walk away.

Spend nothing. Give them nothing. Even in supermarkets I'm constantly substituting brands, items, stockpiling sales. You give them as little as possible. You do without, you do it yourself, you learn a skill, you ask a friend. That's a message management needs to hear.

[SheltieLover]

9. Same here

[dem4decades]

10. My payment is the same, zero.

[erronis]

13. I had been a reader for years - both print and online. Now also $0.

Same with the NYT.

[sinkingfeeling]

12. I unsubscribed from the WaPo a couple of years ago but still play their online crosswords

every day. They have offered me a yearly subscription for $24.

[MLWR]

17. How do they know you aren't carrying a portable recharger in your purse/pocket?

[TBF]

18. After decades of subscribing, I cut the Wash Post when they wouldn't endorse Harris.

F*ck them.

[yardwork]

20. I'm unsubscribed- and I feel really sad about it.

I was a WaPo subscriber for decades.