New Bill Would Ban Autoplay Videos and Endless Scrolling

Though not relevant to NZ legally speaking, it is still good to see
that there is movement to avoid design that disadvantages the user:

'A new bill, sponsored by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), targets
snapstreaks, YouTube autoplay, and endless scrolling that, the bill
alleges, are designed in a way to make services "addictive." Reader
Zorro writes:

Hawley's Social Media Addiction Reduction Technology Act, or the SMART
Act, would ban these features that work to keep users on platforms
longer, along with others, like Snapstreaks, that incentivize the
continued use of these products. If approved, the Federal Trade
Commission and Health and Human Services could create similar rules
that would expire after three years unless Congress codified them into
law. "Big tech has embraced a business model of addiction," Hawley
said. "Too much of the 'innovation' in this space is designed not to
create better products, but to capture more attention by using
psychological tricks that make it difficult to look away."

Deceptive design played an enormous part in last week's FTC settlement
with Facebook, and Hawley's bill would make it unlawful for tech
companies to use dark patterns to manipulate users into opting into
services. For example, "accept" and "decline" checkboxes would need to
be the same font, color, and size to help users make better, more
informed choices. "Social media companies deploy a host of tactics
designed to manipulate users in ways that undermines their wellbeing,"
said Josh Golin, executive director of campaign for a Commercial Free
Childhood.'

-- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/19/07/30/1742213

Cheers, Peter
-- 
Peter Reutemann
Dept. of Computer Science
University of Waikato, NZ
+64 (7) 858-5174
http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/
http://www.data-mining.co.nz/
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