Context: Dark patterns are user interface or other software designs that deceive or manipulate users to do things they would not otherwise do. Even though dark patterns have been under active research for a long time, including particularly in computer science but recently also in other fields such as law, systematic applied ethical assessments have generally received only a little attention. Objective: The present work evaluates ethical concerns in dark patterns and their research in software engineering and closely associated disciplines. The evaluation is extended to cover not only dark patterns themselves but also the research ethics and applied ethics involved in studying, developing, and deploying them. Method: A scenario analysis is used to evaluate six theoretical dark pattern scenarios.
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A Scenario Analysis of Ethical Issues in Dark Patterns and Their Research
The evaluation results indicate that dark patterns are not universally morally bad, and it can be recommended that dark patterns should be evaluated on case-by-case basis, considering all of the three main branches of normative ethics in an evaluation.