How do companies use dark patterns to trick you into data sharing?
In the early 2010s, companies began using deceptive design to manipulate the user. So-called «dark patterns» is a type of interface that is designed to get the desired from the user in a deceptive way. The emergence of dark patterns dates back to the explosive growth of the e-commerce industry. Nowadays they are used everywhere: from dating websites and airline ticket aggregators to a consent to broader data collection. It is important for the user to remember that such interface is created specifically to mislead them.
It should be noted that designers resort to psychological tricks to make the interface as effective as possible for the company. When creating interfaces, they rely on the peculiarities of human thinking. For example, all credit and debit cards in Apple Wallet are located in the same way as they are in a regular wallet. A person can easily read this metaphor and immediately figure out how the app works. Similarly, when question «Do you agree to share your personal data with third parties?» pops up, the answer «Yes» may be highlighted in green, whereas «No» — in red. And you intuitively tick «Yes», even if you do not agree, because you automatically think that the green answer is the right one, whereas red is associated with something wrong or forbidden. In this way, they force you to unconsciously make the wrong decision.
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Contrary to popular belief, dark patterns are used not only by dubious websites, but also by large and well-known companies. There is a website (visit _DarkPatterns.org _for details), created by Harry Brignull, where various types of dark patterns are collected. Additionally, there is a list of websites, companies and services using them. According to Brignull, there are 12 types of deceptive design:
The list of companies which use deceptive interface includes large corporations like Amazon, Netflix and Facebook. The latter even has its own kind of dark pattern, named after the founder of the social network Mark Zuckerberg – "privacy zuckering". It means that you are tricked into publicly sharing more information about yourself than you really intended to. Terms of Service is either hidden, or written so incomprehensibly that you don’t want to go into details. However, your personal data can be collected and shared with third parties without your “informed” consent.
But why do respected companies use these tricks? First of all, large monopolistic companies benefit from such tricks, since there are no analogues of their product. People will continue to use Facebook, even though it collects your personal data with no consent. Everyone is simply got used to this. Secondly, if you do not agree to a consent on Facebook, they will make your usage of the service very inconvenient, you will always have to deal with pop-ups asking you for some consent. In other words, they will continue annoying you until you give the consent they need.
Deceptive design becomes a real threat to users’ data. Apart from this, they deprive a person of freedom of choice.
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