Probably! It's called dynamic pricing, and it's very different than paying extra for premium matchups at the ballpark or seats on an airplane. Dynamic pricing in an online marketplace is an opaque system that uses an algorithm to determine how much to charge you (or someone else) for anything from milk and paper towels to books or even a Tinder subscription. 

Factors at play when a price is set can include your neighbourhood, shopping history, recorded preference and many others. If it sounds shady, well, it's impossible to determine just how shady it is because none of this is public to would-be consumers. And none of our existing regulations address it. Should they? And if so, how?

GUEST: Vass Bednar, Executive Director, MPP in Digital Society at McMaster University, Author at Regs2Riches.com

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