Dark patterns are deceptive design elements of digital choice architectures that are implemented to drive users’ actions towards decisions that are not necessarily in their best interest, such as accepting privacy-invasive practices. Most dark patterns are considered unlawful, but their description is rather informal. Thus, detecting dark patterns among the various existing design patterns and discerning what is an illegitimate design practice may depend on the subjective interpretation of expert users (such as regulators, civil society organizations, and academic researchers) who may not fully agree. The need to ground any evaluation on evidence calls for a reliable approach that is based on descriptions relying on observable, measurable features.
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A Systematic Approach for A Reliable Detection of Deceptive Design Patterns Through Measurable HCI Features
This work proposes a systematic approach to describe the characteristics of deceptive design patterns that are intended to reconcile the interpretations of expert users, and proposes a list of observable and measurable user-interaction features of dark patterns covering visual, process, and language design aspects.