Descripción del software

Throughout this work, I have analyzed dark patterns from multiple angles. Primarily, I explored the cultural foundations of dark patterns. I then articulated a more cultural definition of dark patterns and examined it through examples. In my examination, I categorized dark patterns into three groups based on the distance between the pattern and profit, and then moved to explore the tenacity and effectivity of the concept by exploring how examples changed and evolved over time. I analyzed how change manifested itself in the individual and the collective to create a new user-programmer relationship, and then, using the categories previously discussed, I examined how the new user-programmer relationship demonstrated itself in each category of dark patterns.

Now, armed with greater knowledge concerning the cultural operation of the term dark patterns, several important take-aways present themselves. Primarily, dark patterns are created when profit incentives enter usable user interfaces. Furthermore, dark patterns present and rely on a sense of perceived enablement for the user. Additionally, perceived enablement is one effort (of many) that systemically encourage the asymmetric arrangement of power in the creation of the user-interface. As a result, the term ‘dark patterns’ is itself an answer to a collective action problem and works to enable individuals to claim greater power in the software development process. However, as I noted earlier, this power is limited by the asymmetric nature of the discourse surrounding dark patterns (radicle, rather than rhizome). Instead, dark patterns are

continually re-articulated into less discernable and more opaque forms, rather than being removed entirely. Ultimately, as they are being developed, dark patterns are becoming more opaque, affective, and habitual and manifesting themselves in new business models such as Freemium. Modern iterations of this type of dark pattern can be most commonly seen in the arrangement of algorithmically personalized content with the goal of captivation.

Slack & Wise note that “the way we think about technologies affects what we think we are able to do about them” (2015). In this paper I have attempted to provide the reader with a greater knowledge regarding the development of dark patterns and attempted to outline how they may develop in the future – no longer are they primarily operating at the front end of user

interfaces, but rather forcing themselves into the structures and systems that underly the web. How can that relationship between the user and programmer be more equally balanced to enable the user, and not manipulate them for the means of profit? What does a web look like that has a stable and balanced relationship between the user and the programmer? Does it require a user to be fully literate of a technical system or can a balance be struck in a heavily abstracted system? How is the modern web a unique social system, and in what ways are its structure different from or similar to histories of political thought?

A response to these questions primarily concerns the programmer. As other studies have noted (Gray 2018), it is important to consider how the specific arrangement of structures of software development may encourage more or less deceptive technology. These studies point to the importance of transparency and an ethical culture of design. However, since the root of the issue I have described goes back to the privatization of technology, one may have to look for open-source alternatives to find technology nearly devoid of dark patterns. Conversely, this

attempt is largely implausible as contemporary technology is overwhelmingly proprietary; as a result, the question shifts to user literacy in the face of dark patterns.

Instead of considering how a system might be structured to not promote deception, we should consider how technology may be structured in ways that create a less vulnerable user. To do this, we should look at absolving many of the practices of abstraction and, not only create more transparent software corporations, but also create more transparent low-level technical systems. A user’s knowledge of lower-level functionality may allow for a less vulnerable and more competent user. Further, user interfaces could be designed in ways that attempt to better represent the true functionality of a system. Metaphorical direct manipulation could either more properly represent lower level functionality or shift to be more textually-based. However, since layers of abstraction are often so dense and technical, it is not always feasible to expect

functionality to represent them entirely. Instead, efforts might be made to generally build user literacy and agency within systems rather than in creating ‘simple’ and ‘usable’ technologies that side-step literacy. Programmers must reconsider what it means to make usable technologies and make greater efforts to empower users, not only through function, but also by creating systems that allow for user comprehension and literacy.

On the other end, we users must question our expectations of the ‘usability’ technology. Not all interactions with technology should be approached with the expectation of simplicity, or else users may remain vulnerable and easily manipulated. As users, we should approach

technology with fewer expectations and a greater fascination of the layered and nuanced megastructure of technology. We should work to recognize our fundamental connection with programmers and throw off the limited and constrained veil of the constructed user.

Lastly, government regulation and public ownership should take a more significant role in the development of technology. In the same way that a modern monopoly has the power to spike the price of its services at any moment, a corporation has the power to reverse traditional grammars and manipulate user behavior. Government regulation should consider taking more significant steps in regulating not only the structure of the internet, but also the language it utilizes. With a more standardized language and grammar, individual claims against lying and deceptive technology may appear more significant and legitimate.

In conclusion, dark patterns are a manifestation of decades of issues related to the overwhelming privatization of corporations and reflect many similar struggles occurring

throughout society (healthcare/big pharma, distrust of media, money in politics). However, their manifestation in the digital sphere makes their struggle unique in that it faces distinct pressures of control and suppression. Further, the issue of dark patterns may appear to have an arguably more minor effect on our day-to-day lives, but nonetheless, we should not disregard it because of this perceived triviality. For the user, dark patterns are a bug in a late-stage neoliberal techno- cultural system. They are not simply annoying, but rather, a complex manifestation and physical actualization of years of imbalances in economic and technological history.

Given this, a shift to more personalized content is quite concerning. Are we prepared to place considerably more trust in proprietary software? To answer this question, we should use the history and development of the dark patterns to inform our fears of modern algorithmic technology. We should not question deceptive intent simply because it may hide behind a veil of abstraction. Instead, dark patterns teach us that we should recognize this veil as an attempt to disguise manipulation and quell public concern in technology.

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