When the Abyss Looks Back: Unveiling Evolving Dark Patterns in Cookie Consent Banners

To comply with data protection regulations such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act CCPA, websites widely deploy cookie consent banners to collect users' privacy preferences. In practice, however, these interfaces often embed dark patterns tha...

Amazon pays $2.5B settlement over deceptive Prime subscriptions

Another day, another settlement. Amazon has settled a lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission FTC over misleading customers who signed up for Amazon Prime—though it claims it did nothing wrong. The FTC alleged that Amazon used deceptive methods to sign up consumers for Prime subscriptions—a...

US senators ask FTC to investigate car makers’ privacy practices

An ongoing US Senate investigation indicated that connected car makers violate consumer privacy by sharing and selling drivers’ data, including their location, on a vast scale, and that the same car makers often obtain consumer consent through deception. Based on this investigation, senators have...

Google's Privacy Sandbox Accused of User Tracking by Austrian Non-Profit

Google's plans to deprecate third-party tracking cookies in its Chrome web browser with Privacy Sandbox has run into fresh trouble after Austrian privacy non-profit noyb none of your business said the feature can still be used to track users. "While the so-called 'Privacy Sandbox' is advertised a...

Cookie consent choices are just being ignored by some websites

In news that is, sadly, unlikely to shock you, new research indicates that many websites ignore visitors choices to refuse cookies and collect their data anyway. Researchers at the University of Amsterdam UvA analyzed 85,000 European websites and came to the conclusion that 90% of them violated a...

How to avoid potentially unwanted programs

If youve ever downloaded software onto your computer, chances are youve unknowingly cluttered your machine with PUPs. Heres what you need to know about these sneaky programs. What are PUPs? If you're thinking baskets of doe-eyed baby dogs, then you're sadly mistaken. PUPs is the acronym for...

40% of online shops tricking users with “dark patterns”

The European Commission has been looking at retail websites to see if they're misleading consumers with "dark patterns". Spoiler: Yes, they are. The Commission, along with the national consumer protection authorities of 23 EU member states, plus Norway and Iceland, have released the results of...

Facebook Launches 'Privacy Center' to Educate Users on Data Collection and Privacy Options

Meta Platforms, the company formerly known as Facebook, on Friday announced the launch of a centralized Privacy Center that aims to "educate people" about its approach with regards to how it collects and processes personal information across its family of social media apps. "Privacy Center provid...

Shining a light on dark patterns with Carey Parker: Lock and Code S02E09

This week on Lock and Code, we speak to cybersecurity advocate and author Carey Parker about "dark patterns," which are subtle tricks online to get you to make choices that might actually harm you. Dark patterns have been around for years, and the tricks theyre based on are even older. Ever bough...

Lawmakers Take Aim at Insidious Digital ‘Dark Patterns’

A new California law prohibits efforts to trick consumers into handing over data or money. A bill in Washington state copies the language...

How Facebook and Other Sites Manipulate Your Privacy Choices

Social media platforms repeatedly use so-called dark patterns to nudge you toward giving away more of your data...

The Subtle Tricks Shopping Sites Use to Make You Spend More

Through deceptive designs known as “dark patterns,” online retailers try to nudge you toward purchases you wouldn’t otherwise make...

How to Spot—and Avoid—Dark Patterns on the Web

You've seen them before: the UX ploys designed to trick you into spending money, or make it nearly impossible to unsubscribe. Here's what to look out for...

A week in security (June 25 – July 1)

Last week on Labs, we looked at comment moderation duties, Viagra spam on a news-making restaurant's website, and how to manage your child's online presence for Internet safety month. We also looked at a set of big breaches and leaks, as well as malware threats with a World Cup vibe. Other news...

Norwegian Agency Dings Facebook, Google For “Unethical” Privacy Tactics

While GDPR is forcing large data-crushing service providers to be transparent around data collection and usage, some are still employing a number of tactics to nudge end users away from data privacy. That’s what the Norwegian Consumer Council said in an in-depth report, released Wednesday, which...

Manipulative Social Media Practices

The Norwegian Consumer Council just published an excellent report on the deceptive practices tech companies use to trick people into giving up their privacy. From the executive summary: Facebook and Google have privacy intrusive defaults, where users who want the privacy friendly option have to g...