2. DARK PATTERN
Dark patterns, coined in 2010 by Harry Brignull,
have been infiltrating our daily lives in one form
or another for more than a decade. But what are
they, and why do they matter? Simply speaking,
they are website or app design additives that
attempt, often successfully, to get users to hand
over something of value to them, such as
money, information, or time. Users aren’t
handing these items over willingly, but the
designs employed make it challenging to
discern or execute the intended action. Dark
patterns range from a nuisance to thievery.
2
3. WHY DARK
PATTERN ARE
IMPORTANT TO
UNDERSTAND
3
The inability of a user to unsubscribe from a service
creates a financial loss for them: spending money
without the knowledge of the account owner.
But, besides that, dark patterns can also cause
other dangerous things.
Dark patterns can lead to emotional manipulation,
such as when a site suddenly pops up a notification
with an offer and shows a countdown feature to
trigger a quick decision from the user. Even though
this time does not affect the price or sales offer of
the product or service.
Another hazard is privacy threats, such as when an
app forces users to first scramble through various
options or menus just to turn off data collection by a
site.
5. PRIVACY ZUCKERING
Now what does Privacy Zuckering mean? Well, it’s when a company gets you to
share more information that you wished to have shared.
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6. MISDIRECTION
Where the website designs its website to encourage users to choose more
expensive options and divert them from standard options.
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7. CHECKBOX
TREACHERY
Checkbox Treachery is one of the most well-known and also the most common
dark pattern. Focus on the opt-in or opt-out of checkboxes and spiels that
companies use to give users some control over how their data is used.
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8. BAIT AND SWITCH
Bait and switch is the questionable practice of offering on thing but delivering
another, this often unethical.
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9. ROACH MOTEL
The roach motel design is a dark pattern that makes it difficult to leave once you’re
in. An example of this would be having trouble unsubscribing from a service or
mailing list after signing up for them the first time around, which was easy to do
when they were introduced.
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10. CONCLUSION
A dark pattern by any other name, like market
manipulation, is still the same quagmire to
navigate, even when users are educated. Each
of these examples is a candidate for a future
deep dive; however, it is important to
understand the big picture of dark patterns in
our modern environment so as users, we can
remain vigilant when interacting with our
devices and technologies.