⏱️This edition of the National Account’s newsletter is a three-minute read.
👋 G’day everyone, Archie here.
A quick one for today, with a story from me on how there is nothing really stopping companies charging you and me completely different prices for the same goods and services.
How?
By deciding a price based purely on the data they have collected — and how much they think we’d be willing to pay.
Sounds like a great future…
Here’s the story 🗞️.
Our complaint here is about our privacy being invaded, about the use of our data being used against us.
🗣️ Why did she say that?
I’d seen some stories in the US about this “personalised pricing”, where companies are essentially trying to extract as much money out of you as possible by learning way too much about you.
At first I thought: Australia is way better at protecting consumers — and has higher standards — than the United States, right? RIGHT?
I had a chat with the University of Melbourne’s Professor Jeannie Paterson to get a better understanding of consumer and privacy protections.
What I found out was bloody disturbing.
For my full rundown check out today’s video:
In case you missed it 🎿
Last week an El Niño Weather pattern was declared by the Bureau of Meteorology. I had a chat with the Gippsland Monitor’s Jacob Wallace about what this could mean for Australia’s ski fields, like Mount Baw Baw, in his neck of the woods.
Watch the full interview below:
Thanks for catching up with me. I hope you enjoyed this issue, and I’d love to hear your thoughts. Just reply to this email and I’ll be on the other side 👋
I’ll be back on Wednesday.
Cheers, Archie