Dark Patterns - A New Legal Standard or Just a Catchy Name? (Part One)
| 6 min
State and federal regulators have definitely put a new emphasis on combatting so-called “dark patterns” – a term attributed in 2010 to user-experience expert Harry Brignull, who runs the website darkpatterns.org. Consider some of the actions of 2021: In April, the FTC hosted a workshop dedicated to dark patterns. In July, Colorado passed the Colorado Privacy Act that specifically defines and prohibits the use of dark patterns. In October, the FTC issued a policy statement warning against the use of dark patterns in subscription services. And just last week, a bipartisan group of four states sued Google alleging in part violations of state law for Google’s use of dark patterns in obtaining consumers’ consent to collect geolocation information. But other than a catchy name, is there really anything new about the types of conduct that state and federal officials are calling illegal? This two-part blogpost will take a closer look at that question.