California bans ‘dark patterns’ that trick users into giving away their personal data

If you’ve ever struggled through a cycle of online customer service to cancel a subscription or delete an account, you’ve probably encountered a “dark pattern” – the user interface that tricks and frustrates users. Are designed for. The concept was coined in 2010, but is slowly being addressed in US law, with California announcing this week that it was banning the use of dark patterns that prevent users from selling their personal data. Prevent exit.

The updated regulation tightens enforcement of the 2018 California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), one of the toughest consumer privacy laws in the US. The CCPA empowers Californians to “say no to the sale of personal information,” but the state government is clearly concerned that these options will be buried under the Byzantine menu. By banning dark paradigms, California “will ensure that consumers are not confused or misled to exercise their data privacy rights,” said state Attorney General Javier Becerra Press statement.

Newly approved regulation Blind does not ban all uses of patterns, only those “have a substantial effect on affecting or impairing the consumer’s choice to opt-out of plans” where their personal data is being sold. The regulation provides several examples of such dark patterns, including:

• Using misleading language such as double-negatives (eg “Do not sell my personal information”).
• Forcing users to click or listen to the reasons why they should not submit a request to opt-out before confirming their request.
• Users are required to “search or scroll through the text of a privacy policy or similar document or webpage to locate the mechanism to submit a request to opt-out.”

Businesses not found to be in compliance with CCPA are sent a “notice to fix”, giving them a 30-day window to amend their services. According to Becerra’s office: “Since CCPA enforcement began on July 1, 2020, the department has seen widespread compliance by companies doing business in California, specifically in response to notices for treatment.” To help standardize the use of these opt-out plans, the state of California has also designed that it is an “eye-catching” icon that companies can direct users to exercise their rights .

While this law only bans dark patterns in specific scenarios, there have been other attempts to crack such misleading designs more generally. In 2019, censors Mark Warner (D-VA) and Deb Fisher (R-NE) introduced a bill that would ban internet platforms with more than 100 million users, allowing users from using any dark patterns Will be tricked into handing over personal data. Bill, however, Never Got votes in Congress.