Companies are Subtly Tricking Users Online with 'Dark Patterns' - Slashdot

Posted by EditorDavid

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  My favorite recent example was the Windows 10 upgrade dialog Microsoft deliberately designed to trick users into upgrading when they didn't necessarily want to. And of course, Amazon's been under fire by the EU for it's slightly-too-obtuse method of cancelling Prime.

  Fortunately, things aren't quite as bad as they used to be, but only thanks to stricter laws. For example, it use to be possible to sign up for services electronically, but you'd have to actually call someone to cancel. That's kind of the ultimate in dark patterns IMO, and is thankfully illegal in many places now.

• I've noticed that a lot of unsubscribe options are not only hard to see, but not even linked from the main page or the user page.

  I had a trial subscription to one site that didn't have a visible unsubscribe option - and the only way I found it was to do a web search and use the Google link to the correct page. I assume they had to have an existing unsubscribe page that they could point to when someone sues them or complains to the credit card companies...

  • Re:

    Some don't even let you cancel without calling a number, like NBC parent company Comcast. NYT is a pain to cancel. There are so many cases of this, it's amazing nothing is done. Maybe not amazing, but rather, we may need to start having a parallel congress of Digital Representatives the people elect for them. We spend more time in virtual scenarios (apps, games, websites) than in the real world and nobody is really representing us.

    • Re:

      Some companies, you have to fight the "loss prevention/retention officer", and hope they don't hang up on you. Other companies pretty much don't allow cancelling, and if one just blocks the credit card, about six months later, they ding your credit. I've had to cancel some places with a legal C&D order from a lawyer, served via a constable. This works, but guarantees you will forevermore be on the company's shit list.

      Hell, this is why I like Apple Pay so much. If I want to cancel the NYT, I just log

    • Re:

      Actually, something IS already being done. Some states like CA are passing legislation to prohibit predatory and harassing practices like this, and I think it will eventually spread... probably as more and more legislators get annoyed by this like the rest of us.

      https://www.connectsafely.org/... [connectsafely.org]

    • NYT

      Since you mentioned NYT, when the NYT sent me notice to update my expiring card info, I replied to them, "no thanks, I will unsubscribe instead." But NYT got my new card info from my bank, anyway, without my consent, and happily started charging my new card. Apparently it is standard practice for banks to give updated card info to vendors. It gives new meaning to the process of asking for the new card, since they go ahead and get it, even if you refuse to give it to them. It also gives new meaning to the

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    I had a trial subscription with Scribd, unsubscribed, then a month later was charged a subscription payment.

    Turns out clicking unsubscribe led to a pay with a big "Sorry to see you go!" followed by a long scroll down where it turns out you haven't actually unsubscribed and in the words of Scribd [scribd.com] (emphasis added):

    Once you click on the link to start the cancellation process, you'll see a few pages of confirmations. Read and review before moving forward.

    I disputed the payment with both Scribd and Paypal, never

  • Unsubscribe from your bank

    You should be able to login to your bank web page, see a list of vendors that you have subscribed to, unsubscribe from any one of them without contacting the vendor at all, and set limits for how often and how much the vendor can charge you. Set the limit to 0 for trial subscriptions.

• Even relatively trusted download sources play the fuckheaded game of "guess which download icon isn't an ad?"pu

• ... that now everyone, even CNN, knows about web design dark patterns.

  They provide you with a good example on your first visit to their website:

  The "Accept All" cookies button is highlighted with contrasting colour, but the option to reject them is a low-contrast text with a vague "Manage Cookies".

  The "Manage cookies" pop-over gives you another, invitingly green, "Accept All" button at the top. Only by scrolling the box do you find "Save Preferences" to avoid accepting all cookies.

  Even then, hidden behind headings you must expand, are "legitimate interests" about advertising content, market research, and other things not necessary to serve the web page. To avoid these, you must find them and click on them. The "legitimate" excuse here appears to be that they are entitled to use any means possible to turn a buck. That's pretty dark morals, isn't it?

  CNN doesn't need to write about dark patterns in web design in any other website. They just need to show their own website is as rotten as any other they may report on.

  • 1 hidden comment

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    And they do this.. Every.. Fucking.. Time.. Because storing a cookie with the information that "No I don't want cookies!" is not considered a "functional" cookie, necessary to the functioning of the site (which of course, is technically true).

    • Re:

      That's incompetent bullshit. The cookie preference cookie is essential to site functioning and every regulator agrees.

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    They often outsource cookie agreement & other user compliance processes to 3rd party services that do all the skullduggery & they're probably the ones that sell users' data on too. I'd be surprised if CNN knows about anything other than the Google analytics dashboard that they think comes with their website or that they're literally giving away their users' personal data without any oversight.

• Would you like to install Microsoft Edge? Yes/Maybe later.
  Would you like to send us your usage data? Yes/Maybe Later
  Would you like us to send information on upcoming promotions we think you may be interested in? Yes/Maybe Later
  (and so on and on and on)

  I am not sure if those are dark patterns or just scumbag trickery, but changing responses from Yes/No to Yes/Maybe Later (apparently so they can ask you again, and again,and again because you can't say NO) have become ubiquitous across the www and apps, and they are ubiquitously annoying for being so obviously deceptive.

  • Re:

    O&O Shutup is what I use to tell Microsoft to:
    - Fuck off
    - Get fucked
    - Disable Cortana, completely.
    - etc, etc.

    It's utterly ridiculous that a Windows 10 Pro install has so much garbage.

    And if people say "Well, use Enterprise", the Windows 11 Enterprise still has things in it that are actually illegal for many businesses I've worked for.

• Dark patterns have been a thing since forever, spawning endless articles, commentary, and even legislation. Why pretend, especially on a technical site, that this is some kind of revelation?

• Just have a look here: https://hallofshame.design/rya... [hallofshame.design]

  They even won a Dark Patterns award of some sorts a few years ago, if I remember correctly.

  • Re:

    Dell is another great example. With their "Free support (automa ticallyex ten ded.afterthefirst month.fo ronly10bucks.withthe creditcardinformat ionyo ugaveus.soitstot allylegal)" being on by default and hidden somewhere obscure.

    Random spaces because fuck you Slashdot lameness filter.. *sigh*

• Why do they bother with misdirection and dark patterns? Clearly, they can get away with just blatantly ignoring your choices and preferences.

  Every web shop I've used in the last 10 years has had a checkbox to sign up for spam. I always uncheck it, sometimes many times because it always gets re-checked, and every single one of them ignores it and starts sending me spam anyway.

  These services could replace their entire cancellation process with a popup that says "Fuck you, take it up with your bank" and no one will do anything about it.

• Even reputable companies does this.

  Ever noticed how hard it is to remove items from your shopping bag in some online stores? I just recently perused a lot of items I wasn't entirely sure I'd purchase, but I kept them in my shopping cart for a little while, then next day I decided to remove them, but there was no "clear cart" function.

  After 20 minutes or so fiddling around with the website, going down that dark path of endless support pages, and even more dead ends, the cart remained.
  It turns out I had to cl

  • Re:

    Even reputable companies does this.

    Then they are by definition not 'reputable'. Known, sure. Reputable, no.

• Perhaps not a dark pattern but something highly controversial is requiring payment/card details to subscribe for all sorts of free trials. This kind of practice is in fact in breach of the rules currently binding in the EU under GDPR, where information collected from the customer must be "adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are processed (‘data minimisation’);". Since trials are free, collecting any payment information upfront is technically illegal. Sadly, no one enforces that.

• I pay for everything I buy on-line with one of my credit cards...ONLY one of my credit cards. When there's a problem, and yes, there have been problems, I don't bother dealing with the seller. I just contact my credit card people and cancel the sale. This has never, ever failed. I get my money back, and a multi-billion dollar, bank-supported corporation guts these thieves like fish. On two occasions, the unwanted item was actually delivered to my home. After having had my credit card cancel the sale,