Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Dark Patterns are now illegal in India

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

I'm not a fan of India blocking news videos from Canada, but I am a fan of banning dark patterns. " Dark patterns are misleading tricks in website and app designs that lead users to make unintended choices, like unwanted purchases or sharing personal data." The great big screen that Medium throws up in fron of an article making look like you have to subscribe to read is an example of a dark pattern - just click on the 'X' in the upper right and you can skip the screen completely. Anyhow, this article offers a nice list, with examples, of dark patterns. Via Dave Lane. See also Todd Libby, who has issues with the term 'dark patterns' and recommends 'deceptive patterns' instead.

Related: OK, I don't have the time or resources to build a whole marketing campaign around this concept (the way eg. 'enshttification' was promoted) but I do have a new term to offer and this is it: "cultural dark patterns" (or (nods to Libby) "culturally deceptive patterns"). Which means 'persistent ways of representing cultures as 'exotic' or 'old' (or sneaky, or criminal, etc.) in such a way as to bias perceptions about the culture. See here (Slovenian, but easily translated in your browser). Via Mitja Podreka.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
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Last Updated: Apr 30, 2024 3:33 p.m.

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