3d ago

Should Lyft and Uber charge more if your battery is low? California may soon ban that

Should California retailers use your cellphone data to change prices?

California lawmakers want to ban companies from using data about consumers’ devices like battery life, model and geolocation to set fluctuating prices. Proponents say such “surveillance pricing” is discriminatory.

News @lemmy.world

Davriellelouna @lemmy.world

3d ago

Should Lyft and Uber charge more if your battery is low? California may soon ban that

calmatters.org /politics/2025/08/california-surveillance-pricing-ban/

United States | News & Politics @midwest.social

Davriellelouna @lemmy.world

3d ago

Should Lyft and Uber charge more if your battery is low? California may soon ban that

calmatters.org /politics/2025/08/california-surveillance-pricing-ban/

7 comments

Surveillance pricing. This is a good example to show the nothing-to-hide-nothing-to-fear crowd.
What the actual fuck.
- Yup, and all they had to do was automate millions of A B tests to figure out it’s effective. They can tweak and tune based on all sorts of data points.
Literally no good reason for apps to have this information.
- In a well regulated economy where abuse potential is lower, there are lots of good reasons.
  If I'm developing a ride share app, battery level would be handy for a few reasons off the top of my head:
  Reduce rendering quality, animations, map clarity, go to dark mode...etc to reduce battery usage (ie. Automatic Low power mode).
  Google maps does this when your device is overheating btw
  Increase priority levels for users who are at risk of running out their phones before their estimated arrival time
  Notify users that they may not have enough battery life, and advise them to switch their device to low power mode
  Prioritize blacking out the screen when sensors indicate the phone is facing down or is in a pocket.
  
  Another one for you: pair them with a driver who has charging cables
Wait, what? Are they using your device's battery percentage to judge how desperate you are for a ride RIGHT NOW? Like, upcharge you if your phone is going to die?

7 comments