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Dark Patterns:�Ethics of Dark Patterns

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What is the Meaning of Ethics?

  • Ethics is concerned with:

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      • what is morally good and bad/right and wrong

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AND

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      • what is good for individuals and society.

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Dark Patterns: Ethical Concerns

  • OVERVIEW:

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  • Dark Patterns are tricks websites use to get people to:
    • Share more information than they intend to
    • Spend more money than they intend to
    • Download programs than they don’t intend to

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Dark Patterns: Ethical Concerns

  • Dark Patterns trick people:
    • Into sharing information they don’t intend to
    • Into paying more than they thought
    • Into subscribing to mailing lists that they don’t want to
    • Into downloading programs that are disguised
    • Into spamming their contacts
    • By preventing price comparison
    • By changing the meaning of a commonly used symbol
    • By using guilt to get people to spend more money

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Dark Patterns: Ethical Concerns

  • Dark patterns are a shame but they are there for a reason. To get rid of dark UX, we need to eradicate that reason first.

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  • The best defence against dark patterns is awareness of the various different types of unethical behaviour.�
  • The severity of dark patterns can be viewed through a number of different ethical lenses.

https://uxplanet.org/design-ethics-vs-dark-side-ux-15a703870ec6

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Dark Patterns through�different Ethical lenses

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Dark Patterns: Deontology (Duty-Based)

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Deontology is an ethical perspective that can be understood as meaning that there are a set of principles or rules that tell us the difference between right action and wrong action.

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Dark Patterns: Deontology

  • Deontology is the study of duty:
    • What should we do?
    • What actions are good?
    • How do we choose between doing the right thing and doing the wrong thing?

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  • The deontological view is that logic and reason are all you need to determine whether actions are right or wrong.

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  • People have a duty to do the right thing, even if it produces a bad result.

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https://matthewstrom.com/ethics/deontology

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Dark Patterns: Deontology

Good points of deontological ethics

  • It emphasises the value of every human being
  • It says some acts are always wrong
  • It provides 'certainty’
  • It deals with intentions and motives

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/introduction/duty_1.shtml

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Dark Patterns: Deontology

Bad points of deontological ethics

  • It sets absolute rules.
  • It allows acts that make the world a less good place.
  • It is h hard to reconcile conflicting duties.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/introduction/duty_1.shtml

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Dark Patterns: Deontology

Good of individuals & society

Good & Bad

Does NOT influence choice

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Dark Patterns: Deontology

Dark patterns deceive, manipulate, shame, trick the user into doing something they do not want to do ….

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Deontological perspective:

Therefore, if an organization is using Dark Patterns, they are wrong.

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Deontology: How wrong?

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Dark Patterns: Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism is an ethical perspective that can be understood as meaning that a right action and wrong action should be looked at from the point of view of whether it is good for society in general.

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https://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/glossary/utilitarianism

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Dark Patterns: Utilitarianism

  • What are the consequences of our ethical choices?

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  • Utilitarianism is action-based and states says that the ethically right choice in a given situation is the one that produces the most happiness and the least unhappiness for the largest number of people.

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https://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/glossary/utilitarianism

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A Company: Lloyds Pharmacy

LloydsPharmacy is Ireland’s leading pharmacy chain, with 90 pharmacies located across Ireland. It employs 118 people.

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Dark Patterns: Utilitarianism

  • From the perspective of Lloyd’s Pharmacy, what are the consequences (good or bad) of each of the dark patterns?

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Dark Patterns: Utilitarianism

Consequences of action

Good & Bad

Influences choice

Good of individuals & society

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Dark Patterns: Utilitarianism

  • Dark patterns deceive, manipulate, shame, trick the user into doing something they do not want to do ….

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  • Utilitarian perspective: If an organization is using Dark Patterns, if the patterns are generating enough money to keep 50 people in employment, and are causing very little harm to the users who are deceived by them, is it truly wrong?

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In general, it is important to remember that dark patterns are problematic.

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Utilitarianism: How wrong?

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Dark Patterns: Virtue Ethics

Virtue Ethics is an ethical perspective that can be understood as meaning that an individual who acts virtuous are always performing a right action.

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Dark Patterns: Virtue Ethics

1. Courage in the face of fear

2. Temperance in the face of pleasure and pain

3. Liberality with wealth and possessions

4. Magnificence with great wealth and possessions

5. Magnanimity with great honours

6. Proper ambition with normal honours

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtue_ethics#Lists_of_virtues

7. Truthfulness with self-expression

8. Wittiness in conversation

9. Friendliness in social conduct

10. Modesty in the face of shame or shamelessness

11. Righteous indignation in the face of injury

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  • Aristotle identified the following moral virtues

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Dark Patterns: Virtue Ethics

Batman has the opportunity to kill the Joker:

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  • Deontologists would reject killing the Joker simply because it’s wrong to kill.
  • Utilitarians endorse killing the Joker. By taking this one life, Batman could save multitudes.

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  • Virtue Ethicists “would highlight the character of the person who kills the Joker. Does Batman want to be the kind of person who takes his enemies’ lives?” No, in fact, he doesn’t.

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https://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/glossary/virtue-ethics

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Dark Patterns: Virtue Ethics

  • The central character is a virtuous character.

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  • Virtue ethics is character-based and says that it looks at the moral character of the person carrying out an action, rather than at ethical rules (deontology), or the consequences of particular actions (utilitarianism).�

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https://kaylajheffernan.medium.com/where-are-the-ethics-in-design-ethics-1a9f5bc5641f

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A Charity: LauraLynn’s Children’s Hospice

LauraLynn's mission is to provide a Community of Care that delivers evidence-based, personalised services to children with palliative care needs, complex care needs and complex disabilities, while also providing family support services and a home to our residents where quality-of-life is paramount. 

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Dark Patterns: Virtue Ethics

  • What virtues does Laura Lynn have?

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Dark Patterns: Virtue Ethics

  • From the perspective of Laura Lynn (and its virtues), does this affect how you would view dark patterns on their website?

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Dark Patterns: Virtue Ethics

Central character

Good & Bad

Influence choice

Good of individuals & society

(virtues)

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Dark Patterns: Virtue Ethics

  • Dark patterns deceive, manipulate, shame, trick the user into doing something they do not want to do ….

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  • Virtue Ethics perspective: If an organization is using Dark Patterns, if the organization is a charity and they are using the patterns for the best of reasons, is it truly wrong?

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In general, it is important to remember that dark patterns are problematic.

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Virtue Ethics: How wrong?

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Dark Patterns: Choice Architecture

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Dark Patterns: Ethical Concerns

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2101.04843.pdf

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Dark Patterns: Ethical Concerns

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2101.04843.pdf

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Dark Patterns: References

Design Ethics vs. Dark Side UX

https://uxplanet.org/design-ethics-vs-dark-side-ux-15a703870ec6

Deontology

https://matthewstrom.com/ethics/deontology

Duty-based ethics

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/introduction/duty_1.shtml

Utilitarianism

https://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/glossary/utilitarianism

List of Virtues

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtue_ethics#Lists_of_virtues

Where are ethics in Design Ethics?

https://kaylajheffernan.medium.com/where-are-the-ethics-in-design-ethics-1a9f5bc5641f

What Makes a Dark Pattern... Dark?

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2101.04843.pdf

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Acknowledgements

#CheckYourTech

The authors of these slides and the participants of the Ethics4EU project gratefully acknowledge the support of the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union. The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

www.Ethics4EU.eu

#Ethics4EU