WHAT THIS BILL REGULATES · 1 REQUIREMENT TYPE
How Is This Bill Enforced
Verbatim statutory text on the left; plain-language analysis and a per-section checklist on the right. Numbered markers cross-link to the matching checklist row.
(16) "Surveillance-based price discriminationSurveillance-based price discrimination"Surveillance-based price discrimination" means using personally identifiable information collected through electronic surveillance technology, technological methods, systems, or tools, including sensors, cameras, device tracking, biometric monitoring, or other forms of observation or data collection capable of gathering personally identifiable information about a consumer's behavior, characteristics, location, or other personal attributes, whether in physical or digital environments, to set the price assessed for a good or service.D.C. Official Code § 28-3901(16)" means using personally identifiable informationPersonally identifiable information"Personally identifiable information" means information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual's identity, either alone or when combined with other personal or identifying information that is linked or linkable to a specific individual.D.C. Official Code § 28-3901(17) collected through electronic surveillance technology, technological methods, systems, or tools, including sensors, cameras, device tracking, biometric monitoring, or other forms of observation or data collection capable of gathering personally identifiable informationPersonally identifiable information"Personally identifiable information" means information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual's identity, either alone or when combined with other personal or identifying information that is linked or linkable to a specific individual.D.C. Official Code § 28-3901(17) about a consumer's behavior, characteristics, location, or other personal attributes, whether in physical or digital environments, to set the price assessed for a good or service.
(17) "Personally identifiable informationPersonally identifiable information"Personally identifiable information" means information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual's identity, either alone or when combined with other personal or identifying information that is linked or linkable to a specific individual.D.C. Official Code § 28-3901(17)" means information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual's identity, either alone or when combined with other personal or identifying information that is linked or linkable to a specific individual.
This section adds two new defined terms to the District's Consumer Protection Procedures Act: surveillance-based price discrimination and personally identifiable information. The definition of surveillance-based price discrimination is broad and technology-neutral — it reaches any use of PII gathered through electronic observation (sensors, cameras, device tracking, biometric monitoring, or any other data collection method) to set the price of a good or service, in physical or digital environments.
The PII definition tracks the federal NIST formulation and is not limited to AI processing. The definitions are structural — they create no obligation on their own but supply the operative terms for the new prohibition added by § 28-3904(mm).
(mm) 1 Engage in surveillance-based price discriminationSurveillance-based price discrimination"Surveillance-based price discrimination" means using personally identifiable information collected through electronic surveillance technology, technological methods, systems, or tools, including sensors, cameras, device tracking, biometric monitoring, or other forms of observation or data collection capable of gathering personally identifiable information about a consumer's behavior, characteristics, location, or other personal attributes, whether in physical or digital environments, to set the price assessed for a good or service.D.C. Official Code § 28-3901(16) to differentiate prices assessed to a customer for a good or a service.
This section adds new subsection (mm) to the District's enumerated list of unfair or deceptive trade practices, making it a per se CPPA violation to engage in surveillance-based price discrimination to differentiate prices charged to a customer for a good or service. The prohibition is absolute — there are no carve-outs for consent, disclosure, or legitimate business purpose.
Because the prohibition is grafted onto the existing CPPA, it inherits the CPPA's enforcement architecture: enforcement by the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection and the Attorney General, plus a private right of action with statutory damages, treble damages, punitives, and attorney's fees. The prohibition applies to any merchant — there is no defined "covered entity" because the CPPA already reaches all merchants in the District.
While the legislative purpose is responsive to AI/algorithmic pricing, the statutory text is technology-neutral and reaches any pricing that uses surveillance-collected PII as a price-setting input, including pricing decisions made entirely by algorithmic or AI systems based on protected-class proxies and willingness-to-pay inferences.