submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
 

It's pretty easy to spot dark patterns when you look out for them, but I found a pretty obvious example of this.

Stoofie is a brand that sells water fountains for your pet (I don't know what the problem with a water bowl is, but I digress). WayBack Machine

Plastered at the top of their website is "33% OFF Ends Today- Free Shipping" with no way to dismiss it. There is a scrolling text under the main image "FAST AND FREE SHIPPING 60-DAY FREE RETURNS"

If you scroll down, you're immediately introduced with a product with the option to buy two preselected. The rest of this section explains itself:

Other things are sprinkled in the main page, but it really is the prime example of dark patterns. I am personally sick of finding them, but would love to see more examples of what others have found. Please, share your favorite examples of dark patterns. Don't forget to archive them first so they can never be lived down.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 61 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (6 children)

Most cookie consent dialogues:

  1. There’s only one big accept button
  2. If the decline button even exists, it’s grey whereas the other one is green.
  3. The decline option could be buried deep under other menus.
  4. The sizes of the buttons

Most companies are trying to actively manipulate you to accept all cookies, but nowadays there are a few companies that don’t resort to any of these dirty tricks.

  • source
  • hideshow 12 child comments
  • [–] 28 points 2 years ago* (5 children)

    The one that scares me the most is:

    Accept all or Settings

    And you have to opt out 5-10 buttons and at the end there is a "save settings" or the "accept all" button again in green.

    Who has time for this shit? Just for a stupid article? We need laws against these.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 10 child comments
  • [–] 20 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    With a heading "We care about your privacy".

    🙄

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Oh they care. They care a lot. Particularly that you don't have any so they can sell all your details to any bidder.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 11 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Pretty sure EU law says that the buttons should be identical

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago

    That's actually a nightmare

    Who has time for this shit? Just for a stupid article?

    Won't using reader mode ( if your browser supports it ) help you avoid this ? or those browser add-ons like " I don't care about cookies "

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    I'm honestly surprised no-one has built an extension to automatically opt out of them, or at least the major cookie providers interfaces.

    I realise there are many extensions which outright block cookies, etc; I'm meaning specifically the annoying dialogues you describe

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

    Yeah, EU fixed that somewhat, it has to be privacy-by-default now, the save choice being pre-selected and obvious and etc. But most dialogues are now illegal; no legal entity complains, nobody fixes it.

  • source
  • parent