Norwegian Consumer Council report on how tech companies use dark patterns [pdf]

Great summary, hopefully the EU can deliver what these companies are asking for.

May as well be, as via the EEA we seem to adopt more directives from Brussels than some full members...

There was an interesting post related to this a few months ago, that maybe some of you missed and would enjoy... "Dark Patterns, The Ratchet"

https://jacquesmattheij.com/dark-patterns-the-ratchet/

That flow was really scummy. I remember going through it.

The entry point was an email claiming you have to "read and accept the updated policies in order to continue using the site". And the first thing you're presented with was that two-choice "Manage data settings" / "Accept and continue", implying for the user who is less than extremely careful that if you don't "Accept and continue", you won't be able to use the site anymore.

It's only after that modal that you're presented with the updated T&Cs which you indeed need to either accept or delete your account.

And of course all the various things people have noted:

- A red dot in the fake-header to make you think you have pending notifications

- A complete disregard for "privacy by default"

All this right after Mark testified in congress saying "no we used to be bad and we made mistakes but now we really care, you see".

For a site that despises transparency, Facebook has never been so transparent about how little it gives a crap about its users.

I have some friends working at Facebook who will probably read this and be upset I think so little of their place of work. Folks, I have a huge respect for some of the excellent work that goes on at Facebook, especially in open source. But that doesn't change how scummy the core site itself is.

What a surprise! Microsoft villianised over the decades seems to be better than Google and Facebook. This brings us to the question. Have you paid XX money for a service that doesn’t show ads. Are you happy with it?