2024
Gray, Colin M; Gunawan, Johanna; Schäfer, René; Bielova, Nataliia; Chamorro, Lorena Sánchez; Seaborn, Katie; Mildner, Thomas; Sandhaus, Hauke
Mobilizing Research and Regulatory Action on Dark Patterns and Deceptive Design Practices Proceedings Article Forthcoming
In: Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '24), Forthcoming.
Links | BibTeX | Tags: Dark Patterns, Legal and Policy Perspectives, Regulation
@inproceedings{Gray2024-lo,
title = {Mobilizing Research and Regulatory Action on Dark Patterns and Deceptive Design Practices},
author = {Colin M Gray and Johanna Gunawan and René Schäfer and Nataliia Bielova and Lorena Sánchez Chamorro and Katie Seaborn and Thomas Mildner and Hauke Sandhaus},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3613905.3636310
https://colingray.me/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/2024_Grayetal_CHI_DarkPatternsWorkshop.pdf},
doi = {10.1145/3613905.3636310},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-05-01},
urldate = {2024-05-01},
booktitle = {Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in
Computing Systems (CHI EA '24)},
keywords = {Dark Patterns, Legal and Policy Perspectives, Regulation},
pubstate = {forthcoming},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Gray, Colin M; Santos, Cristiana; Bielova, Nataliia; Mildner, Thomas
An Ontology of Dark Patterns Knowledge: Foundations, Definitions, and a Pathway for Shared Knowledge-Building Proceedings Article Forthcoming
In: CHI'24: Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM Press, Forthcoming.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Dark Patterns, Legal and Policy Perspectives, Regulation
@inproceedings{Gray2023-yt,
title = {An Ontology of Dark Patterns Knowledge: Foundations, Definitions, and a Pathway for Shared Knowledge-Building},
author = {Colin M Gray and Cristiana Santos and Nataliia Bielova and Thomas Mildner},
url = {https://colingray.me/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024_Grayetal_CHI_OntologyDarkPatterns.pdf},
doi = {10.1145/3613904.3642436},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-05-01},
urldate = {2023-09-01},
booktitle = {CHI'24: Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human
Factors in Computing Systems},
publisher = {ACM Press},
abstract = {Deceptive and coercive design practices are increasingly used by
companies to extract profit, harvest data, and limit consumer
choice. Dark patterns represent the most common contemporary
amalgamation of these problematic practices, connecting
designers, technologists, scholars, regulators, and legal
professionals in transdisciplinary dialogue. However, a lack of
universally accepted definitions across the academic,
legislative and regulatory space has likely limited the impact
that scholarship on dark patterns might have in supporting
sanctions and evolved design practices. In this paper, we seek
to support the development of a shared language of dark
patterns, harmonizing ten existing regulatory and academic
taxonomies of dark patterns and proposing a three-level ontology
with standardized definitions for 65 synthesized dark patterns
types across low-, meso-, and high-level patterns. We illustrate
how this ontology can support translational research and
regulatory action, including pathways to extend our initial
types through new empirical work and map across application
domains.},
keywords = {Dark Patterns, Legal and Policy Perspectives, Regulation},
pubstate = {forthcoming},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
companies to extract profit, harvest data, and limit consumer
choice. Dark patterns represent the most common contemporary
amalgamation of these problematic practices, connecting
designers, technologists, scholars, regulators, and legal
professionals in transdisciplinary dialogue. However, a lack of
universally accepted definitions across the academic,
legislative and regulatory space has likely limited the impact
that scholarship on dark patterns might have in supporting
sanctions and evolved design practices. In this paper, we seek
to support the development of a shared language of dark
patterns, harmonizing ten existing regulatory and academic
taxonomies of dark patterns and proposing a three-level ontology
with standardized definitions for 65 synthesized dark patterns
types across low-, meso-, and high-level patterns. We illustrate
how this ontology can support translational research and
regulatory action, including pathways to extend our initial
types through new empirical work and map across application
domains.
2023
Gray, Colin M; Santos, Cristiana; Bielova, Nataliia; Mildner, Thomas
Arxiv Preprint, 2023.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Dark Patterns, Ethics and Values, Legal and Policy Perspectives, Regulation
@unpublished{Gray2023-nv,
title = {An Ontology of Dark Patterns Knowledge: Foundations, Definitions, and a Pathway for Shared Knowledge-Building},
author = {Colin M Gray and Cristiana Santos and Nataliia Bielova and Thomas Mildner},
url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/2309.09640},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-09-01},
urldate = {2023-09-01},
abstract = {Deceptive and coercive design practices are increasingly
used by companies to extract profit, harvest data, and limit
consumer choice. Dark patterns represent the most common
contemporary amalgamation of these problematic practices,
connecting designers, technologists, scholars, regulators,
and legal professionals in transdisciplinary dialogue.
However, a lack of universally accepted definitions across
the academic, legislative and regulatory space has likely
limited the impact that scholarship on dark patterns might
have in supporting sanctions and evolved design practices.
In this paper, we seek to support the development of a
shared language of dark patterns, harmonizing ten existing
regulatory and academic taxonomies of dark patterns and
proposing a three-level ontology with standardized
definitions for 65 synthesized dark patterns types across
low-, meso-, and high-level patterns. We illustrate how this
ontology can support translational research and regulatory
action, including pathways to extend our initial types
through new empirical work and map across application
domains.},
howpublished = {Arxiv Preprint},
keywords = {Dark Patterns, Ethics and Values, Legal and Policy Perspectives, Regulation},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {unpublished}
}
used by companies to extract profit, harvest data, and limit
consumer choice. Dark patterns represent the most common
contemporary amalgamation of these problematic practices,
connecting designers, technologists, scholars, regulators,
and legal professionals in transdisciplinary dialogue.
However, a lack of universally accepted definitions across
the academic, legislative and regulatory space has likely
limited the impact that scholarship on dark patterns might
have in supporting sanctions and evolved design practices.
In this paper, we seek to support the development of a
shared language of dark patterns, harmonizing ten existing
regulatory and academic taxonomies of dark patterns and
proposing a three-level ontology with standardized
definitions for 65 synthesized dark patterns types across
low-, meso-, and high-level patterns. We illustrate how this
ontology can support translational research and regulatory
action, including pathways to extend our initial types
through new empirical work and map across application
domains.
Gray, Colin M; Mildner, Thomas; Bielova, Nataliia
Arxiv Preprint, 2023.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Dark Patterns, Ethics and Values, Legal and Policy Perspectives, Regulation, Research Methods
@unpublished{Gray2023-bs,
title = {Temporal Analysis of Dark Patterns: A Case Study of a User's Odyssey to Conquer Prime Membership Cancellation through the "Iliad Flow"},
author = {Colin M Gray and Thomas Mildner and Nataliia Bielova},
url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/2309.09635},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-09-01},
urldate = {2023-09-01},
abstract = {Dark patterns are ubiquitous in digital systems, impacting
users throughout their journeys on many popular apps and
websites. While substantial efforts from the research
community in the last five years have led to consolidated
taxonomies of dark patterns, including an emerging ontology,
most applications of these descriptors have been focused on
analysis of static images or as isolated pattern types. In
this paper, we present a case study of Amazon Prime's
``Iliad Flow'' to illustrate the interplay of dark patterns
across a user journey, grounded in insights from a US
Federal Trade Commission complaint against the company. We
use this case study to lay the groundwork for a methodology
of Temporal Analysis of Dark Patterns (TADP), including
considerations for characterization of individual dark
patterns across a user journey, combinatorial effects of
multiple dark patterns types, and implications for expert
detection and automated detection.},
howpublished = {Arxiv Preprint},
keywords = {Dark Patterns, Ethics and Values, Legal and Policy Perspectives, Regulation, Research Methods},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {unpublished}
}
users throughout their journeys on many popular apps and
websites. While substantial efforts from the research
community in the last five years have led to consolidated
taxonomies of dark patterns, including an emerging ontology,
most applications of these descriptors have been focused on
analysis of static images or as isolated pattern types. In
this paper, we present a case study of Amazon Prime's
``Iliad Flow'' to illustrate the interplay of dark patterns
across a user journey, grounded in insights from a US
Federal Trade Commission complaint against the company. We
use this case study to lay the groundwork for a methodology
of Temporal Analysis of Dark Patterns (TADP), including
considerations for characterization of individual dark
patterns across a user journey, combinatorial effects of
multiple dark patterns types, and implications for expert
detection and automated detection.
Gray, Colin M; Chamorro, Lorena Sánchez; Obi, Ike; Duane, Ja-Nae
Mapping the Landscape of Dark Patterns Scholarship: A Systematic Literature Review Proceedings Article
In: Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS Companion '23), Ässociation for Computing Machinery, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, 2023.
Links | BibTeX | Tags: Dark Patterns, Legal and Policy Perspectives, Transdisciplinarity
@inproceedings{Gray2023-zc,
title = {Mapping the Landscape of Dark Patterns Scholarship: A Systematic Literature Review},
author = {Colin M Gray and Lorena Sánchez Chamorro and Ike Obi and Ja-Nae Duane},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3563703.3596635
https://colingray.me/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/2023_Grayetal_DISPWIP_DarkPatternsLandscape.pdf},
doi = {10.1145/3563703.3596635},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-07-01},
urldate = {2023-07-01},
booktitle = {Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS Companion
'23)},
volume = {1},
publisher = {Ässociation for Computing Machinery},
address = {Pittsburgh, PA, USA},
keywords = {Dark Patterns, Legal and Policy Perspectives, Transdisciplinarity},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Gray, Colin M; Santos, Cristiana; Tong, Nicole; Mildner, Thomas; Rossi, Arianna; Gunawan, Johanna; Sinders, Caroline
Dark Patterns and the Emerging Threats of Deceptive Design Practices Proceedings Article
In: Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '23), 2023.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Dark Patterns, Ethics and Values, Legal and Policy Perspectives, Transdisciplinarity
@inproceedings{Gray2023-kq,
title = {Dark Patterns and the Emerging Threats of Deceptive Design Practices},
author = {Colin M Gray and Cristiana Santos and Nicole Tong and Thomas Mildner and Arianna Rossi and Johanna Gunawan and Caroline Sinders},
url = {https://colingray.me/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2023_CHI_SIG_DarkPattersDeceptiveDesign.pdf
http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3544549.3583173},
doi = {10.1145/3544549.3583173},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-04-01},
urldate = {2023-04-01},
booktitle = {Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors
in Computing Systems (CHI EA '23)},
abstract = {Growth hacking, particularly within the spectre of surveillance
capitalism, has led to the widespread use of deceptive,
manipulative, and coercive design techniques in the last decade.
These challenges exist at the intersection of many diferent
technology professions that are rapidly evolving and
``shapeshifting'' their design practices to confront emerging
regulation. A wide range of scholars have increasingly addressed
these challenges through the label ``dark patterns,'' describing
the content of deceptive and coercive design practices, the
ubiquity of these patterns in contemporary digital systems, and
the impact of emerging regulatory and legislative action on the
presence of dark patterns. Building on this convergent and
trans-disciplinary research area, the aims of this SIG are to:
1) Provide an opportunity for researchers and practitioners to
address methodologies for detecting, characterizing, and
regulating dark patterns; 2) Identify opportunities for
additional empirical work to characterize and demonstrate harms
related to dark patterns; and 3) Aid in convergence among HCI,
design, computational, regulatory, and legal perspectives on
dark patterns. These goals will enable an
internationally-diverse, engaged, and impactful research
community to address the threats of dark patterns on digital
systems.},
keywords = {Dark Patterns, Ethics and Values, Legal and Policy Perspectives, Transdisciplinarity},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
capitalism, has led to the widespread use of deceptive,
manipulative, and coercive design techniques in the last decade.
These challenges exist at the intersection of many diferent
technology professions that are rapidly evolving and
``shapeshifting'' their design practices to confront emerging
regulation. A wide range of scholars have increasingly addressed
these challenges through the label ``dark patterns,'' describing
the content of deceptive and coercive design practices, the
ubiquity of these patterns in contemporary digital systems, and
the impact of emerging regulatory and legislative action on the
presence of dark patterns. Building on this convergent and
trans-disciplinary research area, the aims of this SIG are to:
1) Provide an opportunity for researchers and practitioners to
address methodologies for detecting, characterizing, and
regulating dark patterns; 2) Identify opportunities for
additional empirical work to characterize and demonstrate harms
related to dark patterns; and 3) Aid in convergence among HCI,
design, computational, regulatory, and legal perspectives on
dark patterns. These goals will enable an
internationally-diverse, engaged, and impactful research
community to address the threats of dark patterns on digital
systems.
Gray, Colin M; Chivukula, Shruthi Sai; Bongard-Blanchy, Kerstin; Mathur, Arunesh; Gunawan, Johanna; Schaffner, Brennan
Emerging Transdisciplinary Perspectives to Confront Dark Patterns Proceedings Article
In: Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '23), 2023.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Dark Patterns, Ethics and Values, Legal and Policy Perspectives, Transdisciplinarity
@inproceedings{Gray2023-wg,
title = {Emerging Transdisciplinary Perspectives to Confront Dark Patterns},
author = {Colin M Gray and Shruthi Sai Chivukula and Kerstin Bongard-Blanchy and Arunesh Mathur and Johanna Gunawan and Brennan Schaffner},
url = {https://colingray.me/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2023_CHI_Panel_TransdisciplinaryDarkPatterns.pdf
http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3544549.3583745},
doi = {10.1145/3544549.3583745},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-04-01},
urldate = {2023-04-01},
booktitle = {Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors
in Computing Systems (CHI EA '23)},
abstract = {Technology ethics is increasingly at the forefront of
human-computer interaction scholarship, with increasing
visibility not only to end users of technology, but also
regulators, technology practitioners, and platforms. The notion
of ``dark patterns'' has emerged as one common framing of
technology manipulation, describing instances where
psychological or perceptual tricks are used to decrease user
agency and autonomy. In this panel, we have assembled a group of
highly diverse early-career scholars that have built a
transdisciplinary approach to scholarship on dark patterns,
engaging with a range of socio-technical approaches and
perspectives. Panelists will discuss their methodological
approaches, key research questions to be considered in this
emerging area of scholarship, and necessary connections between
and among disciplinary perspectives to engage with the diverse
constituencies that frame the creation, use, and impacts of dark
patterns.},
keywords = {Dark Patterns, Ethics and Values, Legal and Policy Perspectives, Transdisciplinarity},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
human-computer interaction scholarship, with increasing
visibility not only to end users of technology, but also
regulators, technology practitioners, and platforms. The notion
of ``dark patterns'' has emerged as one common framing of
technology manipulation, describing instances where
psychological or perceptual tricks are used to decrease user
agency and autonomy. In this panel, we have assembled a group of
highly diverse early-career scholars that have built a
transdisciplinary approach to scholarship on dark patterns,
engaging with a range of socio-technical approaches and
perspectives. Panelists will discuss their methodological
approaches, key research questions to be considered in this
emerging area of scholarship, and necessary connections between
and among disciplinary perspectives to engage with the diverse
constituencies that frame the creation, use, and impacts of dark
patterns.
2021
Gray, Colin M; Santos, Cristiana; Bielova, Nataliia; Toth, Michael; Clifford, Damian
Dark Patterns and the Legal Requirements of Consent Banners: An Interaction Criticism Perspective Honorable Mention Proceedings Article
In: Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2021.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Dark Patterns, Ethics and Values, Legal and Policy Perspectives
@inproceedings{Gray2021,
title = {Dark Patterns and the Legal Requirements of Consent Banners: An Interaction Criticism Perspective},
author = {Colin M Gray and Cristiana Santos and Nataliia Bielova and Michael Toth and Damian Clifford},
url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/2009.10194},
doi = {10.1145/3411764.3445779},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-05-01},
urldate = {2021-05-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems},
abstract = {User engagement with data privacy and security through consent banners has become a ubiquitous part of interacting with internet services. While previous work has addressed consent banners from either interaction design, legal, and ethics-focused perspectives, little research addresses the connections among multiple disciplinary approaches, including tensions and opportunities that transcend disciplinary boundaries. In this paper, we draw together perspectives and commentary from HCI, design, privacy and data protection, and legal research communities, using the language and strategies of "dark patterns" to perform an interaction criticism reading of three different types of consent banners. Our analysis builds upon designer, interface, user, and social context lenses to raise tensions and synergies that arise together in complex, contingent, and conflicting ways in the act of designing consent banners. We conclude with opportunities for transdisciplinary dialogue across legal, ethical, computer science, and interactive systems scholarship to translate matters of ethical concern into public policy.},
keywords = {Dark Patterns, Ethics and Values, Legal and Policy Perspectives},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}