http://www.bjreview.com MARCH 26, 2020 BEIJING REVIEW 47
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overcharge regular clients as much as they
want. In contrast, consumers know nothing
about these enterprises and most don’t even
realize they have been overcharged. They can
discover these tricks by using different ac-
counts. However, people’s time and energy are
limited, so they can’t spend too much time trac-
ing the prices of these products. If consumers
are forced to do this some day, Internet com-
merce will cease to exist.
To curb the abuse of big data, we can’t
expect consumers to win the battle by them-
selves. The intervention of relevant authorities
is necessary. A transparent, fair and honest mar-
ket environment is important in the Internet era
to prevent consumers from being consumed
by big data.
Hu Hongsen (Beijing Daily): It’s all right for
businesses to employ certain methods to make
big money, but to charge regular clients more
than newcomers by taking advantage of infor-
mation collected through big data analysis is
encroaching on regular clients’ rights as well as
their trust in these businesses. The Law on the
Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests
stipulates that cons umers have the right to
know the truth about the commodities and
services they buy. Thus, to overcharge regular
clients is not only breaching the principle of fair-
ness and sincerity, but also relevant laws. In the
long run, it’s the businesses that will suffer most.
Rather than taking advantage of big data to
gouge prices, it would be wiser for businesses
to spend more time improving products and
services in order to retain regular clients and at-
tract new customers.
To curb this kind of offense, it is nec-
essary to expose these businesses to the
public as a punishment and deterrence. At
the same time, more efforts are needed to
protect consumers’ individual information on
their purchasing preferences and habits and
prevent businesses from abusing clients’ per-
sonal information.
Meanwhile, consumers can compare simi-
lar commodities sold by different shops and
choose the best and most affordable ones.
They should also develop the sense of pro-
tecting their personal information. Once they
discover that their information is being used for
unscrupulous purposes, they need to use the
law to safeguard their legitimate rights. Q