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

Post by driverdan » Wed, Jun 27, 2018, 9:48 PM UTC

neya wrote: post #93

God, I wish someone added Quora to that list. After you read the first article, Quora masks all its content and forces you down the throat to sign up or sign in, pretending to be part of an age verification process (irrespective of the topic). I remember when this happened - I was so pissed off that I made an add-on called "fuck quora" that will simply reset their cookies to have unlimited reading possible without si…

Post by fjsolwmv » Wed, Jun 27, 2018, 10:08 PM UTC

dzhiurgis wrote: post #149

I've recently got caught in a dark pattern by cheap airline in Europe - Wizzair. They've cancelled one of my flights and "automatically rebooked" into different one. Turns out it wasn't really automatic - scroll down the email and there's bunch of options with buttons "Click here to login". Because I didn't really accept my new automatic flight booking, I had to pay €30 check-in fee at the airport.

Post by dzhiurgis » Wed, Jun 27, 2018, 10:39 PM UTC

fjsolwmv wrote: post #163

dzhiurgis wrote: post #149

I've recently got caught in a dark pattern by cheap airline in Europe - Wizzair. They've cancelled one of my flights and "automatically rebooked" into different one. Turns out it wasn't really automatic - scroll down the email and there's bunch of options with buttons "Click here to login". Because I didn't really accept my new automatic flight booking, I had to pay €30 check-in fee at the airport.

If that happened to me there would have been a scene that led to my arrest. That's a textbook case of an unconscionable contract, creating a situation of duress (accept new terms or be stranded) Still, after the 30 extra, was it still cheaper than a legitimate airline?

Post by tjoff » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 7:44 AM UTC

dalbasal wrote: post #150

phicoh wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The GDPR is quite explicit on what consists of consent. This means that if European privacy regulators agree that this approach does not in fact means that users consented then Facebook/Google/Microsoft may be violating the GDPR. I think this is where, at least in theory, the GDPR is a major step forward: it has clear instructions on how information should be presented to users. Now we have to see if that theory actu…

The GDPR is quite explicit on what consists of consent I've had this argument a couple of times and I think it comes down to the semantics, though legal and legislative semantics are a little richer than most. What I mean is that gdpr makes its intentions quite clear, but that's not how the legal system parses laws. What the consequences of gdpr are, in terms of practice is (1) all website visitors must sign a contra…