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Stop the Consent Theater

Published: 08 May 2021 Publication History

Abstract

The current web pesters visitors with consent notices that claim to “value” their privacy, thereby habituating them to accept all data practices. Users’ lacking comprehension of these practices voids any claim of informed consent. Market forces specifically designed these consent notices in their favor to increase users’ consent rates. Some sites even ignore users’ decisions entirely, which results in a mere theatrical performance of consent procedures designed to appear as if it fulfills legal requirements.
Improving users’ online privacy cannot rely on individuals’ consent alone. We have to look for complementary approaches as well. Current online data practices are driven by powerful market forces whose interests oppose users’ privacy expectations – making turnkey solutions difficult. Nevertheless, we provide a bird’s-eye view on privacy-improving approaches beyond individuals’ consent.

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  • (2024)More than just informed: The importance of consent facets in smart homesProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642288(1-21)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
  • (2024)Navigating Privacy Patterns in the Era of Robotaxis2024 IEEE European Symposium on Security and Privacy Workshops (EuroS&PW)10.1109/EuroSPW61312.2024.00011(32-39)Online publication date: 8-Jul-2024
  • (2024)Standardised cookie banner: a solution to the cookie consent problemInternational Review of Law, Computers & Technology10.1080/13600869.2024.2364995(1-18)Online publication date: 12-Jun-2024
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cover image ACM Conferences
CHI EA '21: Extended Abstracts of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
May 2021
2965 pages
ISBN:9781450380959
DOI:10.1145/3411763
Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.

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Published: 08 May 2021

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  1. Cookie Consent Notices
  2. Online Behavioral Advertising
  3. Surveillance Capitalism

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Cited By

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  • (2024)More than just informed: The importance of consent facets in smart homesProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642288(1-21)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
  • (2024)Navigating Privacy Patterns in the Era of Robotaxis2024 IEEE European Symposium on Security and Privacy Workshops (EuroS&PW)10.1109/EuroSPW61312.2024.00011(32-39)Online publication date: 8-Jul-2024
  • (2024)Standardised cookie banner: a solution to the cookie consent problemInternational Review of Law, Computers & Technology10.1080/13600869.2024.2364995(1-18)Online publication date: 12-Jun-2024
  • (2023)Investigating Responsible Nudge Design for Informed Decision-Making Enabling Transparent and Reflective Decision-MakingProceedings of Mensch und Computer 202310.1145/3603555.3603567(220-236)Online publication date: 3-Sep-2023
  • (2023)Trends in Privacy Dialog Design after the GDPR: The Impact of Industry and Government ActionsProceedings of the 22nd Workshop on Privacy in the Electronic Society10.1145/3603216.3624963(107-121)Online publication date: 26-Nov-2023
  • (2023)Legal Obligation and Ethical Best Practice: Towards Meaningful Verbal Consent for Voice AssistantsProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3580967(1-16)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
  • (2023)The Threat of Surveillance and the Need for Privacy ProtectionsIntroduction to Digital Humanism10.1007/978-3-031-45304-5_37(593-609)Online publication date: 21-Dec-2023
  • (2022)Can you meaningfully consent in eight seconds? Identifying Ethical Issues with Verbal Consent for Voice AssistantsProceedings of the 4th Conference on Conversational User Interfaces10.1145/3543829.3544521(1-4)Online publication date: 26-Jul-2022
  • (2022)Consent Receipts for a Usable and Auditable Web of Personal DataIEEE Access10.1109/ACCESS.2022.315785010(28545-28563)Online publication date: 2022

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