We have all encountered them, in both our personal and professional lives. Think about the times you felt tricked or frustrated by a membership or subscription that had a seamless sign-up process but was later difficult to cancel. Something that should be sim-ple and transparent can be complicated, intentionally or unintentionally, in ways that impair consumer choice. These are examples of dark patterns.

First coined in 2010 by user experience expert Harry Brignull,"dark patterns" is a catch-all term for practices that manipulate user interfaces to influence the decision-mak-ing ability of users. Brignull identifies 12 types of common dark patterns, ranging from misdirection and hidden costs to "roach motel", where a user experience seems easy and intuitive at the start, but turns difficult when the user tries to get out.

In a 2019 study of 53,000 product pages and 11,000 websites, researchers found that about one in 10 employs these design practices. Though widely prevalent, the con-cept of dark patterns is still not well understood. Business and nonprofit leaders should be aware of dark patterns and try to avoid the gray areas they engender.

Where is the line between ethical, persuasive design and dark patterns? Businesses should engage in conversations with IT, compliance, risk, and legal teams to review their privacy policy, and include in the discussion the customer/user experience design-ers and coders responsible for the company's user interface, as well as the marketers and advertisers responsible for sign-ups, checkout baskets, pricing, and promotions. Any or all these teams can play a roe in creating or avoiding “digital deception".

Lawmakers and regulators are slowly starting to address the ambiguity around dark patterns, most recently at the state level. In March, the California Attorney General an-nounced the approval of additional regulations under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) that “ensure that consumers will not be confused or misled when seeking to ex-ercise their data privacy rights." The regulations aim to ban dark patterns-this means prohibiting companies from using "confusing language or unnecessary steps such as forc-ing them to click through multiple screens or listen to reasons why they shouldn't opt out."

As more states consider promulgating additional regulations, there is a need for greater accountability from within the business community. Dark patterns also can be ad-dressed on a self-regulatory basis, but only if organizations hold themselves accountable,not just to legal requirements, but also to industry best practices and standards.

1.It can be learned from the first two paragraphs that dark patterns          

[A]improve user experiences

[B]leak user information for profit

[C] undermine users' decision-making

[D]remind users of hidden costs

2.The 2019 study on dark patterns is mentioned to show          

[A]their major flaws

[B]their complex designs

[C] their severe damage

[D]their strong presence

3.To handle digital deception, businesses should          

[A]listen to customer feedback

[B]talk with relevant teams

[C] turn to independent agencies

[D]rely on professional training

4.The additional regulations under the CCPA are intended to          

[A]guide users through opt-out processes

[B]protect consumers from being tricked

[C] grant companies data privacy rights

[D]restrict access to problematic content

5. According to the last paragraph, a key to coping with dark patterns is          

[A]new legal requirements

[B] businesses' self-discipline

[C] strict regulatory standards

[D] consumers' safety awareness