alt Hacker NewsI appreciate the dark pattern enumeration here - but, as an American, I find it strange that the Australian Government needs to get involved with this PSA.
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Australia has infamously robust consumer protection laws. Because of the high cost of running a business in Australia, especially one that involves physical goods, Australians are buying ever more things from overseas over the Internet, which means more exposure to retailers and subscription services that have no Australian presence and therefore can't be subjected to Australian law.
Australian governments also take a very paternalistic approach to dealing with their citizens. This stems from Australia's history as a set of penal colonies.
Nothing about this is regional to Australia. Every government should put out this kind of PSA. Dark patterns make everything worse in the long term for short term gain.
New South Wales Government, not Australia. So even more strange, because I doubt NSW could do much re the Australian Consumer Law.
Right; if they want to get involved, they should go all the way and start fining the hell out of them.
Australia is a nanny state. They will attempt to regulate these dark patterns next.
As a fellow American, wouldn’t it be similar to the FDA putting out a PSA about what baby formula should be avoided?[1] Or warning of the dangers of benzone contamination in sunscreen?[2] Or the CFPB putting out a PSA on responsible credit card practices?
Seems like we have government PSAs too if I’m understanding the comment correctly.
[1] https://www.fda.gov/food/alerts-advisories-safety-informatio...
[2] https://www.fda.gov/drugs/understanding-over-counter-medicin...