#Dark Pattern

[bzzrk]

Listen/purchase: Dark Pattern (royb0t remix) by Bounte

Really pumped to do a remix for Bounte, one of the first local electronic acts in Chicago I met many moons ago. Gave this track a very industrial rock/slammin' ebm remix. Not only that, my friend, _the boundless_, did a remix too. Be sure to check it out!

[gaasublarb]

Me going back and failing level 1 duolingo challenges because abandoning vocabulary is Duo's favorite prank and I haven't had to say "lawyer" in over a year.

[paintedskystudios]

Ayo @staff @support this is what they call a “dark pattern”, or alternatively “a$$hole design”

[fruitycytris]

Holy moly Wikipedia is desperate for people's money. After you click "Maybe later", they ASK AGAIN and if you tell them "Maybe later" again, they ASK FOR YOUR EMAIL so they can "remind" you. That's pure scum and they know it.

[bauerntanz]

EU-Prüfung: Twitter verstößt gegen Regeln

EU-Kommission: #Twitter verstößt gegen #DSA-Regeln der Europäischen Union. Das kann für Elon Musks Plattform teuer werden.

Die EU-Kommission hat heute am Freitag ihre vorläufigen Ergebnisse zu Verstößen von Elon Musks Plattform Twitter (zzt. X) gegen den Digital Services Act übermittelt. Es geht um täuschende blaue Haken, intransparente Werbung und mangelhaften Zugang zu Daten für Forschende. Das Verfahren könnte in einer hohen Strafe enden. Netzpolitik informiert dazu: X zeigt sich zu verschlossen, findet die EU-…

[taizona]

Amazon fined in Poland for dark pattern design tricks | TechCrunch

[davidjhiggins]

Cold Consent

I currently have a stinking cold, which isn’t superbly great. However, the one upside is that taking things easier for a few days has given me time to think, leading to a revelation* that Goths (the aesthetic subculture not the Germanic tribal group) are the solution to the issues Google, Meta, and other internet-centric companies are facing with regulators challenging the design of their user…

[redsray]

Batfam AU where Jason never dies, so Tim doesn't join the family the standard way. Instead, he continues pouring most of his time and energy into his photography, eventually becoming known as a popular photographer for events and all that. So now, picture this: Tim gets hired to be a photographer for a Wayne gala. Obviously, he's ecstatic, because he can take pictures of Batman, Robin and Nightwing and be in their presence for a whole night. Since Tim is so naturally talented in stealth and taking pictures unnoticed, the second one of the fam realises this they're like: this kid is good. Tim manages to go unnoticed by all 3 of them (all bat-trained, one literally batman) multiple times during the night, and even when he is noticed, he disappears before they can manage to get a good look at him; to the sheer amazement of Dick and Jason.

Jason, (very discreetly putting snacks in his suit pocket): i know you're under the table, kid.

Tim: don't mind me, Mr. Todd-Wayne, sir, just taking a few pictures

Jason: right... Jason's fine, and what pictures were you taking from under the table?!

Tim, showing him perfectly good shots of him: these.

Jason: how did you get that. it looks like you took it from the rafters

Tim, nodding: I did.

Jason, glancing at the ceiling: ...what?

Tim, gone:

Jason: no fucking way.

Dick, hearing a very, very faint camera shutter from behind him:

Dick, turning around and finding no one there: what the actual...

Dick, getting the feeling of being watched and whirling around to find Tim staring at him from across the room: ... huh.

Jason, pulling Dick aside: you see that kid too, right?!

Dick, nodding: the camera kid, yeah?

Jason: who is that.

Dick: he's one of the hired photographers, apparently. one of the best in his field, despite his age.

Jason: he's good. like, really good. snuck up on me 4 times already, the little bastard.

Dick: you too? i swear he's constantly watching. it's creepy how well he can sneak past both of us.

Jason:

Dick:

Jason: you don't think...

Dick: no. B would've told us.

Jason:

Dick:

Dick: did he get another kid and not tell us somehow

Bruce: what do you mean another kid?

Jason: you heard us. did you adopt another kid and not tell us?!

Bruce: no?? how would I even?? ... what's this about?

Dick: one of the photographers has managed to sneak up on both me and Jay multiple times already

Bruce: what.

Jason: he also can't be more than like. 15 or 16. so forgive us for assuming you took another one in.

Bruce: do you know his name?

Dick:

Jason:

Bruce: really?

Dick: in our defence, he's very hard to catch. i wouldn't be surprised if he's snuck up on you, too.

[camera shutter noise]

All of them, whipping their heads toward the sound only to find nothing but air:

Tim, smiling from the other side of the room:

Jason: do you see what we mean?!

Cue an entire night of shenanigans where it's just Dick, Jason and Bruce trying to catch Tim and learn about him. Upon finding out who he is and where he lives, Dick immediately asks to keep him as an honorary member of the family. Jason is hesitant at first but at some point Tim calls Bruce Batman instead of Mr. Wayne on accident and Jason laughs so hard he's basically won over. Bruce can do nothing but watch as Tim proceeds to come over almost every night for sleepovers and is coddled by both of his sons. And he can't deny, the kid's investigation and stealth skills are top tier. By the time Dick and Jason both start referring to Tim as 'their younger brother' Bruce has just accepted his fate.

[firstwordproblem]

A person shouldn’t have to be a UX designer to navigate the web just to avoid dark patterns, confusion and manipulation. That isn’t a fair web.

[disenografia]

Un precedente que afectará el Diseño de Interfaces y Experiencia: el juego Fortnite abusaba de los usuarios omitiendo confirmaciones en comportamientos de botones para realizar compras y los colocaban en lugares estratégicos promoviendo las compras directas, sumándole las trabas para disputar cargos no deseados. Acá la nota de la Federal Trade Comission de Estados Unidos:

La Comisión Federal de Comercio ha finalizado una orden que obliga a Epic Games, el fabricante del videojuego Fortnite, a pagar 245 millones de dólares a los consumidores para resolver las acusaciones de que la empresa utilizó patrones oscuros para engañar a los jugadores para que hicieran compras no deseadas y permitió a los niños acumular cargos no autorizados sin ninguna participación de los padres.

En una denuncia anunciada en diciembre como parte de un paquete de acuerdo con Epic, la FTC dijo que Epic desplegó una variedad de trucos de diseño conocidos como patrones oscuros destinados a conseguir que los consumidores de todas las edades hicieran compras involuntarias en el juego. La configuración de botones contraintuitiva, incoherente y confusa de Fortnite llevó a los jugadores a incurrir en cargos no deseados basados en la pulsación de un solo botón. La empresa también facilitó que los niños realizaran compras mientras jugaban a Fortnite sin requerir ningún consentimiento paterno. Según la denuncia de la FTC, Epic también bloqueó las cuentas de los clientes que disputaban cargos no autorizados con sus compañías de tarjetas de crédito.

En virtud de la orden de la FTC, Epic debe pagar 245 millones de dólares, que se utilizarán para proporcionar reembolsos a los consumidores. La orden también prohíbe a Epic cobrar a los consumidores mediante el uso de patrones oscuros o cobrar de otro modo a los consumidores sin obtener su consentimiento afirmativo. Además, la orden prohíbe a Epic bloquear el acceso de los consumidores a sus cuentas para impugnar cargos no autorizados.

Sírvase de lección a los Diseñadores de UI/UX no promover el uso de patrones oscuros de Diseño en sus desarrollos.

[demaparbat-hp]

Izumi of Jang Hui died young. She was sixteen and unwed. A kind child, protective and lonely—thus unfit for this world.

Izumi of Jang Hui was murdered. The Painted Lady was born out of hatred and grief. Her skin is painted red with the patterns of her scars. Her home is the river where the Dark Water Spirit dwells—he who found her, drowned and beautiful.

Build shrines by the river and pray for her good will. Harm her land or people and pray for mercy.

[sunnnyfay]

So we all know YouTube's goal is to increase watch time and I'm honestly a bit upset about this because it really affects me. YouTube shorts has had a horrible effect on my life. I will open the app to do something, like look up a song, or maybe watch the lastest content from the creators I like, only to get completely *sucked* into the shorts.

Then I watch for far, far longer than intended and realize that way too long has passed. Usually I'll watch long form content with insightful, interesting discussions, new interesting science, and reviews. I also love to watch anything animated, especially short films and animation memes are fun.

But YouTube shorts is having a measurable negative impact on my life to the point that if I can't find a way to fully block shorts, I'll just have to delete the app entirely. I can't keep doing this. It's frustrating, really!

[zeruch]

It's Not Unusual, You'Re Just Stupid...

…and sociopathically fixated on making AdTech suck harder than Nancy Reagan on an MGM backlot. Basically because I limit Javascript execution for ads…

[puppetmaster13u]

Another Ghost Dragon Prompt? Indeed.

The Ward had made a mistake. Had stolen something that had caused the very Skies to lash out, entire worlds at risk from their actions.

Time Itself shrieked in rage at the loss of Its child, or at least that's how every magic user- and the speedsters, pale and shaken and looking sick- had described it.

Someone had taken the young prince of the Infinite, and it was not the Tyrant King, long since sealed away, that lead the charge, but the Queen Regent that many had long since forgotten.

Many forgot that it was not the Dark who courted Time, but Time who courted the Dark. That It was just, if not more so, merciless as Its partner, and would Devour worlds should Its child- still with newdeath soft scales- was not returned.

Which meant that for the heroes, there was now a Clock ticking down ever so quietly. They had to take care of what was a government branch, had to deal with consequences of going over the law, or their World would End in dragon fire.

[tc-comp301-posting]

Dark Pattern Design.

Looking at what is in the news this week as we tackle Dark Pattern Design which has seen recent legal backlash after years of flying under the government's radar.

This week in Comp 301 we are researching “Dark Pattern Design” in online media. The Dark Pattern Design refers to when a website uses a deceptive interface in order to influence outcomes of a person's decision while they are using that website (1). Some of these practices include “Forced Continuity” where a user signs up for a free trial but once it has ended their credit card is charged; others are similar to analog scams like misdirection, hidden costs and trick questions but all of which are used to manipulate the user (2). This practice is somewhat similar to an already illegal act called “Contract Fraud” (3) where a person misrepresents the facts in a contract in order to deceive the person signing the contract. It could also be considered a form of coercion but that definition is usually reserved for when a person uses physical force or blackmail to get another person to sign onto a contract (4). Although a company may not be physically forcing you to accept their cookies and trackers policy they can use Dark Pattern Design to make it near impossible to find the page to change your preferences in which you give up and agree to “RealPuppyGifs.Com” to track your digital footprint and have access to any little thing that you didn’t read in the fine print. This to me is not morally acceptable as you are taking advantage of short attention spans and ignorance to the potential use of their private information; however it is currently economically acceptable to engage in this practice as long as you’re not falsely advertising the prices of products. Although there have been some recent legal victories for cyber citizens in the United States as Epic Games pays out a multi-million dollar fine for Dark Pattern Design practices that allowed children to use their parent’s credit card without permission (1) and Credit Karma pays out three million dollars for misleading customers into believing they were eligible for a new credit card (5). These lawsuits followed quickly as the Federal-Trade-Commission (FTC) defined what can be considered Dark Patterns in September 2022 such as “Design Elements that Induce False Belief” and “Design Elements that Hide or Delay Disclosure of Material Information” (6). Hopefully the FTC can protect internet users from predatory design practices but this now poses the question for our future, can we really regulate the internet? Future lawmakers will have to walk the thin line between protection and censorship on the internet as companies outsmart consumers and online trackers become more deceptive. But in the meantime, don’t click without reading the fine print first. 

[ocg44ux]

The Dark UX

The most common way for describing the concept of Dark UX, is; to define its unfair and tendentious design traps to delude and profit from the web users. Most of the times, the dark UX patterns, aims to direct and manipulate the users for the sake of the website or the business. This may mean asking for more information than is relevant to a transaction, eliminating important navigation elements to reduce site abandonment, or opting users into receive promotions by default. There are various methods that designers take advantage of the concept of dark UX. First one can be called misdirection; by canalizing the user attention on the desired thing purposefully in order to distract your attention from the real need. In this case designers use stress elements like borders, shadows, font sizes etc., to manipulate the user and direct them to make the wrong choice. Secondly, dictating hidden costs; by directing the user until the checkout process and then asking them to pay unexpected minor costs to complete payment. Additionally, it may sound extremely ridiculous but would you believe if I tell you that, there is even a method called confirm shaming where the designers or the businesses, making the website users feel guilty or lame by actually creating their choices as a button and write humiliating text on it?  (https://careerfoundry.com/) And finally, fear of missing out or “FOMO”, is one of the strongest methods to manipulate the users. In this method, businesses, are playing with the numbers and demonstrating them as they are being sold very quickly and there is not enough of that product and they are already in other users’ basket etc. So, the users are getting nervous and feel the pressure to buy that product or service as soon as they can. The methods discussed in this post can seem like favorable, to the business’s operations but in long term, I don’t think that they can maintain a strong relationship with their users and a sustainable brand loyalty. From my experience, another point that I have to admit is that; many small design agencies and large corporate firms don’t tend to work with UX designers who have a past with the dark or evil UX patterns. So, they might have some career related problems in the future.