New Delhi: The Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India, in collaboration with IIT (BHU), launched Dark Patterns Buster Hackathon 2023 here today. The deliverables of the Hackathon will be to design & prototype innovative apps or software-based solutions such as:
- browser extensions,
- plugins,
- add-ons,
- mobile applications, etc. that can detect the use, type, and scale of dark patterns for e-Commerce platforms.
The launch event was attended by law institutes, higher educational institutes, experts from national and international academia, students, various companies, and e-commerce platforms in both physical and online modes.
While preparing the deliverables, the participants are expected to focus on key areas such as pattern detection accuracy, User-Friendly Extension, Pattern Versioning, Generative AI, Repository Management, Data Collection with Privacy Protection, Crowd-sourced Pattern Identification, Cross-Browser Compatibility, and Artificial Intelligence for Detection and Performance Optimization. The participants will be evaluated on the following, among many criteria: Innovation, Demonstration of the solution as a turn-key solution, User Interface & User Experience, Accuracy & Reliability, Adherence to Functionalities & Features, Privacy & Compliance, etc.
In line with the above initiative, the Department had published draft Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns on 07.09.2023 seeking public comments/feedback/suggestions. A time of 30 days (until 5th October 2023) was given for submitting the suggestions.
The Department received comments/suggestions from various individuals, law firms, National Law Universities, Government Organizations, Voluntary Consumer Organizations, and Trade Associations like NASSCOM, FICCI, and E-Commerce Platforms.
The initiative taken by the Department towards drafting of guidelines and identification of dark patterns was appreciated in general by the industry stakeholders. Besides, there were various suggestions for including certain new dark patterns, a few more illustrations, and modification of definitions of a few existing dark patterns in the guidelines.