Most of us have seen privacy notifications from popular web sites and services. These pop-ups appeared around the time that the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect, and they are intended to keep the service providers compliant with the rules of GDPR. The regulation requires that companies using your data are transparent about what they do with it and get your consent for each of these uses.
Facebook, Google and Microsoft are three tech companies that have been showing their users these pop-ups to ensure that they’re on the right side of European law. Now, privacy advocates have analysed these pop-ups and have reason to believe that the tech trio are playing subtle psychological tricks on users. They worry that these tech giants are guilty of using ‘dark patterns’ – design and language techniques that it more likely that users will give up their privacy.
If nothing else, we should think about importance of reading and thinking about privacy options. Paying attention to these GDPR notifications and taking time to think about what they’re asking is worthwhile, even if it means taking a few minutes before accessing your favourite service. If you already shrugged and clicked ‘accept and continue’, there’s still an option to go in and change your privacy settings later. Just watch for those dark patterns: forewarned is forearmed.
Read more here:
https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2018/06/29/facebook-and-google-accused-of-manipulating-us-with-dark-patterns/