A new publication by Prof. Dr. Mario Martini and Christian Drews is now available on SSRN. The paper entitled "Making Choice Meaningful - Tackling Dark Patterns in Cookie and Consent Banners through European Data Privacy Law" focuses on cookie banners and provides a legal classification.
Thematically, the paper focuses on the variants of dark patterns prevalent in cookie banners and places them in the existing legal framework. Furthermore, the essay also ventures a look into the future and takes a closer look at the DMA and the DSA with regard to cookie banners.
The legal analysis shows that dark patterns in cookie banners are already partially covered by the existing law, but that the current model with its focus on transparency and information obligations is not suitable for effectively countering dark patterns. Rather, in future, behavioural economic findings must also be included and the role of interface design itself must be brought more to the fore. Only then can users be guaranteed real freedom of choice.
The article is available at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4257979
