New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling • Hacker News Board

Re: New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

#41

Post by Nullabillity » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 3:34 PM UTC

GhostVII wrote: post #9

Things like requiring accept and decline checkboxes to be the same font seem somewhat reasonable, even if I disagree with it, but banning autoplay videos and endless scrolling is insane. There are legitimate uses for autoplay videos (ex. Netflix playing next episode, YouTube playing next song when you are listening to music) which I personally use all the time and appreciate, and endless scrolling is great when you d…

> I think people should have the freedom to consume content how they want

Absolutely! That doesn't mean corporations should have a right to decide for people how they should consume their content.

Re: New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

#42

Post by SkyBelow » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 3:34 PM UTC

FabHK wrote: post #21

tantalor wrote: post #2

“If I take the bottom out of this glass and I keep refilling the water or the wine, you won’t know when to stop drinking” That's not how drinking works. That's not how anything works.

EDIT: see caveat from K-Wall below. Can't trust anything these days :-/ That's exactly how it works, to an extent. In a study [1], people with self-refilling soup bowls ate 73% more soup (p Nudge or in Mindless Eating . [1] Wansink, B., Painter, J.E., & North, J. (2005). Bottomless Bowls: Why Visual Cues of Portion Size May Influence Intake Obesity Research, 13 (1), 93-100 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.…

How replicated has the study been? Even a fully credible researcher should not be trusted when their research has not been replicated due to just how prevalent replication issues are in psychology.

Re: New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

#43

Post by bityard » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 3:35 PM UTC

dmcclurg wrote: post #27

12elephant wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You turn off autoplay by exiting netflix.

That makes it a zero sum game--all or nothing. Not good enough.

That's not what zero sum game means... you probably meant false dichotomy.

Re: New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

#44

Post by zbrozek » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 3:36 PM UTC

mc32 wrote: post #28

GhostVII wrote: post #9

Things like requiring accept and decline checkboxes to be the same font seem somewhat reasonable, even if I disagree with it, but banning autoplay videos and endless scrolling is insane. There are legitimate uses for autoplay videos (ex. Netflix playing next episode, YouTube playing next song when you are listening to music) which I personally use all the time and appreciate, and endless scrolling is great when you d…

I’m torn about endless scrolling. I wholeheartedly agree with a ban on auto playing sound or video. It’s gratingly irritating. It’s rather anti-human, experience wise.

I'm not torn at all. I despise it and it's awful. But I don't want to legislate it either.

Re: New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

#45

Post by K-Wall » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 3:37 PM UTC

FabHK wrote: post #32

K-Wall wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't cite Wansink... the guy had 15 retractions in the past year for making shit up.

Oh, good to know. Are you aware of more details? Replications or critiques of those studies? (As I said, I came across them in pop-sci books.)

The unit I'm affiliated with was tasked by the university to run replications and ultimately assist with the retractions. This was all done by my colleagues but I heard about it quite often. Past that I am going to refrain on commenting more as I'm unqualified to do so.

Two published replication studies (used for retractions) can be found here:

https://cisermgmt.cornell.edu/go/PHPs/catalogSingleStudy.php...

Re: New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

#46

Post by giorgioz » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 3:38 PM UTC

You can disable Netflix auto-play following these steps: https://help.netflix.com/en/node/2102

I disabled Netflix autoplay for the reasons mentioned in this article.

Re: New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

#47

Post by azinman2 » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 3:39 PM UTC

tantalor wrote: post #2

“If I take the bottom out of this glass and I keep refilling the water or the wine, you won’t know when to stop drinking” That's not how drinking works. That's not how anything works.

We know that portion size matters, because people will eat/drink what’s in front of them.

Re: New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

#48

Post by umvi » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 3:40 PM UTC

Jazgot wrote: post #6

This sounds like complete joke. Next another bill will ban pagination?

Another bill will mandate that websites display a banner if the user has been there for too long (to protect internet addicts from being sedentary for too long). Pretty soon only big corps will be able to make a website because there is a phonebook sized stack of regulations you have to comply with.

Re: New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

#49

Post by cpursley » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 3:43 PM UTC

Fantastic.

Can we also ban scroll-jacking?

Re: New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

#50

Post by GhostVII » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 3:43 PM UTC

nix0n wrote: post #36

GhostVII wrote: post #9

Things like requiring accept and decline checkboxes to be the same font seem somewhat reasonable, even if I disagree with it, but banning autoplay videos and endless scrolling is insane. There are legitimate uses for autoplay videos (ex. Netflix playing next episode, YouTube playing next song when you are listening to music) which I personally use all the time and appreciate, and endless scrolling is great when you d…

The bill as written[0] is limited to social media sites and has an exception for music playlists, so both your examples would be allowed. [0] https://www.hawley.senate.gov/sites/default/files/2019-07/So...

For YouTube I don't use a playlist, I just let it pick the next recommendation, so that would still be banned.

They added an exception for advertisements, which is too bad since that is the only kind of autoplay video I would really be excited about getting rid of. The definition of autoplay in the bill is "The use of a process that automatically plays music or videos (other than advertisements) without an express, separate prompt by the user." If you are going to get rid of autoplay videos, don't have exceptions for advertisers, that just gives them more power.