NewsPronto

 
Times Advertising


.

USA Conversation

The Conversation USA

The Conversation USA

Dark patterns on the web are designed to manipulate you – why aren’t they all illegal?

  • Written by Gregory M. Dickinson, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Institute for Humane Studies
imageWebsite designs that try to change your behavior cross a line when they outright deceive.Fizkes/iStock via Getty Images

You open a free app to do one simple thing. Before you even start, a full-screen message asks whether you want to try the paid version. The “Start free trial” button is large, bright and hard to miss. The option to...

Read more: Dark patterns on the web are designed to manipulate you – why aren’t they all illegal?

More Articles ...

  1. What are those orange balls on some power lines?
  2. Flavored vapes led to a major shake-up at the FDA – 3 health policy analysts explain the science behind the controversial products
  3. Uncovering coded antisemitism online takes both human expertise and AI automation
  4. A newly rediscovered moth species in Florida may already be at risk
  5. Companies are hyping AI the same way they talked up sustainability, but there are ways to fix that
  6. Trump’s Cabinet dramatically changed American foreign policy while the president made noise – a scholar of presidential rhetoric explains
  7. Why the Iran war is breaking the US-European strategic alliance
  8. From beef ribs to a ‘heavenly’ walk: Xi-Trump summit symbolism underscored American power and Chinese tradition
  9. Supreme Court preserves access to mifepristone via telehealth – at least for now
  10. Trump-Xi summit: Cautious progress on trade, ties and some ‘win-wins’
  11. You can persuade AI models to accept falsehoods as truth, study shows
  12. Is baby talk bad? Why ‘parentese’ actually helps babies learn language
  13. A fungal disease, along with climate change, threatens Colorado’s prized peaches
  14. AI-generated fantasies of US intervention reveal how desperation has narrowed Cuba’s political horizons
  15. Would a $1 rideshare fee affect wealthier or working-class Philadelphians more? 2 Chicago studies offer some perspective
  16. From medieval plague ships to hantavirus: How outbreaks at sea helped to shape the international public health system
  17. More than just a critical blow to Keir Starmer and Labour, local votes signal a dis-United Kingdom
  18. America’s musical founding father: ‘Liberty songs’ by a self-taught singer and tanner helped fuel the Revolution
  19. Who shops at farmers markets in the US?
  20. A ‘super El Niño?’ Why it’s too early to forecast one with certainty, but not too soon to prepare
  21. How much is a bat worth? Protecting these tiny insect-eaters isn’t just good for farms – their deaths cost taxpayers and the wider economy
  22. Why a growing number of Trump supporters are experiencing voter’s remorse
  23. Astrophysicists use ‘space archaeology’ to trace the history of a spiral galaxy
  24. Will future missions to the Moon be sustainable? It may depend on whom you ask
  25. TikTok’s popular microdramas shrink TV into bite-sized chunks
  26. Is AI really ‘writing’? From a priestess to philosophers, ancient authors would have said ‘no’
  27. How Trump plans to keep tariffs at the center of his economic policy despite stinging court losses
  28. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson disagreed about the American Revolution’s meaning even as they lay dying
  29. Baloch insurgency: Suicide bombs and uptick in violence threaten Pakistan, regional security
  30. Most people don’t know what they don’t know, but think they do – correcting your metaknowledge can make you a better teacher and learner
  31. Immigrant patients often choose doctors with a shared cultural background – what they are seeking isn’t sameness but connection
  32. Why Trump’s call to pull 5,000 US troops from Germany will hurt America
  33. Falling space debris poses an escalating risk as spacecraft get stronger and more heat resistant
  34. We tested the new World Cup ball – this is what you need to know about how it will fly, dip and swerve
  35. Detroit’s water affordability crisis is tied to the uneven distribution of stormwater management costs – a fraught history explains why
  36. How tarot readers are using AI – and what it says about our growing reliance on chatbots for emotional support and advice
  37. Why Pennsylvania’s low-income residents are feeling the squeeze as gas prices rise
  38. Suspending federal gas tax wouldn’t save drivers as much as they might hope – here’s what goes into the price of a gallon of gas
  39. Many of the Caribbean’s most important reefs are going unprotected
  40. You can change your emotions – but it’s a 2-step process that takes some effort
  41. How America’s independence from England revolutionized US philanthropy
  42. Why Kevin Warsh might still prove to be an independent Federal Reserve chair
  43. A deep-ocean climate plan wins rare EPA approval, but is sinking plants in the sea the answer?
  44. The Cherokee Bible, one of the language’s first books, is a window between worldviews
  45. Genome sequencing is rewriting the history of disease outbreaks – but without social context, it can tell only part of the story
  46. Button-pushing explorers: How to grasp that AI agents can do amazing things while knowing nothing
  47. Trump-Xi summit will be no ‘Nixon in China’ moment – that they are talking is enough for now
  48. Why political gerrymandering in the South will likely continue to consider voters’ race despite Supreme Court ruling
  49. Racial gerrymandering may be here to stay
  50. What makes a good teacher? Ask a Republican and a Democrat, and they are likely to agree