Both in Palermo and its charming coastal suburb Mondello, it has become common to skip the physical menu and scan a QR code at the table instead.
My best friend had checked the restaurant’s official website beforehand. But when we sat down and scanned the QR code at our table, we discovered something interesting: the prices were 20% higher than those listed on their website.
This small detail made me realize that even a quiet Sicilian suburb is already experimenting with dynamic, personalized pricing — what is often called Surveillance Capitalism in a retail environment.
Your phone gives away far more information than most people realize. Stores can:
- Know with high precision that you are inside their premises (sometimes even which aisle you’re standing in, thanks to Bluetooth beacons)
- Use facial recognition to identify you
- Access your purchase history, payment behavior, estimated income level, and browsing data through various apps
All of this makes it possible to offer you a customized price in real time.
No matter how exciting the future with AI looks, there are always two sides of the coin. And the other side is rarely to our advantage.
This is a new post on the new dewlar.me blog.
You can find the old blog here:https://mrsdewlar.blogspot.com
Mrs Dewlar 