cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/12537

Consumer advocates on Tuesday called on the Federal Trade Commission and state officials to investigate artificial intelligence-enabled pricing experiments used by Instacart, the grocery shopping app millions of Americans rely on, that charge up to 23% more for some shoppers than others when they buy the same item at the same store.

Consumer Reports joined the advocacy group Groundwork Collaborative and the labor-focused media organization More Perfect Union to uncover Instacart's pricing experiments enabled by Eversight, an AI pricing software that Instacart acquired in 2022. The company's CEO said last year that the experiments have helped the company “to really figure out which categories of products our customers [are] more price sensitive on"—in other words, to tailor prices based on a customer's shopping habits, whether they're near a competing store, and other factors.

The groups' study, Same Cart, Different Price, describes how researchers ran five tests with 437 participants, studying the prices of a basket of items bought at two Target stores and three Safeway stores using Instacart.

In one test at a Safeway in Washington, DC, shoppers logged on to the app to buy a carton of eggs from the same brand at the same time and found that the price they were given varied widely. Some shoppers were charged just $3.99 for the eggs, while others saw a price as high as $4.79—20% higher.

Shoppers at a Safeway in Seattle saw a 23% difference in prices for Skippy peanut butter, Oscar Mayer turkey, and Wheat Thins crackers. At two different Safeways in Washington, DC, Instacart quoted shoppers at one store a price that was 23% higher than at another for Signature Select Corn Flakes.

"It’s time for Instacart to close the lab. Americans shopping for groceries aren’t guinea pigs and shouldn't have to pay an Instacart tax.”

For the same basket of groceries, shoppers at the Seattle store were asked to pay as much as $123.93, while others were charged just $114.34.

"The average price variations observed in the study could cost a household of four about $1,200 per year," said Groundwork.

Justin Brookman, director of tech policy at Consumer Reports, said Instacart's tactics "hurt families who are simply trying to purchase essential groceries."

"At a time when everyday Americans are struggling with high prices, it is particularly egregious to see corporations secretly conducting individual experiments to see how much a person is willing to pay," said Brookman. "Companies must be transparent and upfront with people about pricing, so that they can make informed choices and keep more of their hard-earned money. We encourage the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general to investigate Instacart’s pricing tactics."

Groundwork noted that Instcart's website acknowledges that it runs price tests, but states that "shoppers are not aware that they’re in an experiment" and are having their grocery prices selected for them via algorithm.

While Instacart has claimed its price experiments are "negligible," the groups emphasized that they're being used "against the backdrop of the fastest increase in food prices since the late 1970s."

After previous reporting on companies' use of "shrinkflation," "dynamic pricing," and other practices that keep prices high even as pandemic-era labor and supply chain issues have subsided, "today’s report shows Instacart’s experiments are yet another way corporate pricing tactics are squeezing American families," said Groundwork.

The study did not find evidence that Instacart is giving shoppers different prices based on their ZIP code or income, as companies like Amazon, Delta Air Lines, and Home Deport have been accused of doing.

But the groups said Eversight gives the company the capability to use that data to make pricing decisions tailored to particular shoppers.

“Instacart is quietly running pricing experiments on millions of shoppers during the worst grocery affordability crisis in a generation, and it’s costing households as much as $1,200 a year,” said Groundwork Collaborative executive director Lindsay Owens. “They have turned the simple act of buying groceries into a high-tech game of pricing roulette. When the same box of Wheat Thins can jump 23% in price because of an algorithm, that’s not innovation or convenience, it’s unfair. It’s time for Instacart to close the lab. Americans shopping for groceries aren’t guinea pigs and shouldn't have to pay an Instacart tax.”

The groups credited some state and federal lawmakers who have begun to take notice of pricing practices like Instacart's; US Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) introduced the Stop AI Price Gouging and Wage Fixing Act in July with the aim of prohibiting the use of automated systems to set prices. New York has enacted the first-of-its-kind Algorithmic Pricing Disclosure Act, which requires companies to prominently disclose to customers, "This price was set by an algorithm using your personal data" when they use methods like Instacart's. Other state legislation has been introduced in Colorado, California, and Pennsylvania to ban the use of surveillance to set prices.

The groups called on the FTC to take action under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, which bans "unfair methods of competition." Those could include “'price discrimination not justified by differences in cost or distribution,' which appears to match Instacart’s pricing experiments and fluctuations," the report reads.

The FTC could also bring enforcement cases or initiate rulemaking to officially label AI-enabled pricing strategies as an "unfair or deceptive practice," affirming that companies who use them are breaking a consumer protection standard.

"Fair and honest markets are the bedrock of a healthy economy," reads Tuesday's report. "Companies like Instacart offer great convenience, but they are increasingly pursuing corporate pricing practices that unfairly decouple the price of a product from its true cost. As more consumers learn about, and decry, these practices, perhaps companies will change course. But if they do not, policymakers should intervene and require them to change their practices."

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

I thought this Pynchon essay was fantastic and more relevant than ever in our current moment of Artificial "Intelligence" mania and ever-increasing fascistic consolidation.

So currently I have some decent analog headphones from sennheiser that I use when I spend all day staring at the computer for my email job. Unfortunately I recently moved right near a big ass radio tower and it blasts some talk news show into my apartment so now there is NPR voice muttering in my ear whenever I put my headphones on. This is obviously a ploy by the deep state to instill the understanding that Venezuela must be bombed for world peace. I refuse to go that easily so I need to figure out a solution. Analog is out since I don't think any amount of RF shielding will work and I don't want to spend my time chasing down leaks. Who knew those zillion dollar audiophile shielded cable people had real concerns.

I guess the options are either bluetooth or USB/digital headphones? Bluetooth is ehhhhh since I'm on Linux. I would also like "open ear" headphones if possible, since I don't like to be shut off from the world & general happenings in the apartment. Open ear also lets me hear my own voice so I can speak a lot more naturally during video calls. So something like that, max cost maybe $250 new and ideally something I could get used off ebay for around $100. Also something that does not look dorky as hell so I can reasonably be seen wearing it on work calls. Any recs?

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/12137

YouTube offered multiple explanations for deleting the account of Robert Inlakesh, who covered Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.

The post A Journalist Reported From Palestine. YouTube Deleted His Account Claiming He’s an Iranian Agent appeared first on The Intercept.

In February 2024, without warning, YouTube deleted the account of independent British journalist Robert Inlakesh.

His YouTube page featured dozens of videos, including numerous livestreams documenting Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank. In a decade covering Palestine and Israel, he had captured video of Israeli authorities demolishing Palestinian homes, police harassing Palestinian drivers, and Israeli soldiers shooting at Palestinian civilians and journalists during protests in front of illegal Israeli settlements. In an instant, all of that footage was gone.

In July, YouTube deleted Inlakesh’s private backup account. And in August, Google, YouTube’s parent company, deleted his Google account, including his Gmail and his archive of documents and writings.

The tech giant initially claimed Inlakesh’s account violated YouTube’s community guidelines. Months later, the company justified his account termination by alleging his page contained spam or scam content.

However, when The Intercept inquired further about Inlakesh’s case, nearly two years after his account was deleted, YouTube provided a separate and wholly different explanation for the termination: a connection to an Iranian influence campaign.

From The Intercept via This RSS Feed.

Thinking about picking up a mini-pc for living room gaming for the family, to replace the old desktop computer that's been filling the role but has developed terminal hardware issues as of late.

Main usage is emulators, up through PS1 at least, but would also love to leverage a hefty but long-neglected steam library too, so probably going with a Bazzite setup on this one. Had Batocera on the other one, but it was pretty annoying to get anything outside of retroarch to run, and a few times updates caused major issues I had to ssh in to fix.

Have been interested in the GMKTEC systems, but their stock is decimated and what they have left has jumped in price a lot, so I'm considering going with some wild no-name brand to get a higher tier cpu for a similar price. AMD only, of course. Trying to stay under 200 with ram and sdd included - looks like 3500u is pretty common in that range, but with a no-name I'm finding even 5700hs in that range too.

Anyone else have experience going this route? Not too worried about the shopping aspect, just the experience of running a device like this.