To me it's insane how popular surveillance pricing is in discussions on HN. I think that so far it is the pinnacle of useless rent-seeking from the tech-finance alliance. Bit by bit eliminating the 'inefficiency' of people not giving companies the last few cents they have remaining. Evil.

At first I was quick to assume that the proponents of these schemes work in adtech, data harvesting and processing companies, or are just extremely rich and poised to become the beneficiaries of all the surveillance. But so many people are bringing up things like regional pricing for poor countries, coupons or other types of discount that it makes me feel like they think this will benefit them. Are we really about to fall for the 'if you just let us track you, you will be rewarded!' scheme all over again? Did we forget when credit scores were promised to provide anything positive to the customers, but instead became exclusively a way to punish the worst offenders? You don't get anything from a good credit score anymore. Or what about letting your car insurance company track your movements under the promise of discounts which quickly turned into the promise of a lack of a punitive rate hike if you drive well?

Giving you a good deal is not profitable. Whatever mind tricks you think you'll be able to play under a surveillance pricing regime will not work. They will always be three steps ahead of you.