MR Leiser, formerly of Vrije Universiteit-Amsterdam and Leiden University, the Netherlands, is an expert specialising in digital, legal, and platform regulation.

Tene and Polonetsky expounded a Theory of Creepy in 2013. Dr Leiser’s book shows today how well beyond creepy and even overshooting downright sneaky many digital services are by design today. His book lays out in stark terms the real harms, including of financial loss and a dangerous erosion of trust and autonomy, that ensue from the digital manipulation to which we are daily subject. Children and more vulnerable internet users are the most adversely affected. Dr Leiser’s text is a timely and accessible illumination of the issue of deceptive design in digital services that provides up-to-date and expanded language to describe the range of “dark patterns” phenomena we sometimes can’t see but experience. He carefully illustrates the challenges globally these issues present for enforcement as they cut through and sometimes find gaps in consumer, data protection, privacy and sectoral laws. The book thoughtfully proposes realistic and layered solutions which are all the more urgent given the now turbocharging effects of AI. This book is a very important opportunity to act and change course and to do so right now.

• PrefacePart I: Dark, Darker, and Darkest Patterns1. A Frightening Future Awaits, Unless...2. Deceptive Techniques and their Associated Harms3. Regulatory Responses to Dark Patterns and Deceptive Design4. Emerging Digital Design Laws and Regulations Part II: Manipulation Beneath the Interface5. System Architecture Patterns and the Personalisation of Exploitation6. AI-Powered Deceptive Design7. The Illusion of Control: Who is Truly Vulnerable?Part III: The Fight Against Dark Patterns and Deceptive Design8. Toward a Future Free of ManipulationAfterword: Reflections on the Ride

MR Leiser, formerly of Vrije Universiteit-Amsterdam and Leiden University, the Netherlands, is an expert specialising in digital, legal, and platform regulation.

Tene and Polonetsky expounded a Theory of Creepy in 2013. Dr Leiser’s book shows today how well beyond creepy and even overshooting downright sneaky many digital services are by design today. His book lays out in stark terms the real harms, including of financial loss and a dangerous erosion of trust and autonomy, that ensue from the digital manipulation to which we are daily subject. Children and more vulnerable internet users are the most adversely affected. Dr Leiser’s text is a timely and accessible illumination of the issue of deceptive design in digital services that provides up-to-date and expanded language to describe the range of “dark patterns” phenomena we sometimes can’t see but experience. He carefully illustrates the challenges globally these issues present for enforcement as they cut through and sometimes find gaps in consumer, data protection, privacy and sectoral laws. The book thoughtfully proposes realistic and layered solutions which are all the more urgent given the now turbocharging effects of AI. This book is a very important opportunity to act and change course and to do so right now.

• PrefacePart I: Dark, Darker, and Darkest Patterns1. A Frightening Future Awaits, Unless...2. Deceptive Techniques and their Associated Harms3. Regulatory Responses to Dark Patterns and Deceptive Design4. Emerging Digital Design Laws and Regulations Part II: Manipulation Beneath the Interface5. System Architecture Patterns and the Personalisation of Exploitation6. AI-Powered Deceptive Design7. The Illusion of Control: Who is Truly Vulnerable?Part III: The Fight Against Dark Patterns and Deceptive Design8. Toward a Future Free of ManipulationAfterword: Reflections on the Ride

MR Leiser, formerly of Vrije Universiteit-Amsterdam and Leiden University, the Netherlands, is an expert specialising in digital, legal, and platform regulation.

Tene and Polonetsky expounded a Theory of Creepy in 2013. Dr Leiser’s book shows today how well beyond creepy and even overshooting downright sneaky many digital services are by design today. His book lays out in stark terms the real harms, including of financial loss and a dangerous erosion of trust and autonomy, that ensue from the digital manipulation to which we are daily subject. Children and more vulnerable internet users are the most adversely affected. Dr Leiser’s text is a timely and accessible illumination of the issue of deceptive design in digital services that provides up-to-date and expanded language to describe the range of “dark patterns” phenomena we sometimes can’t see but experience. He carefully illustrates the challenges globally these issues present for enforcement as they cut through and sometimes find gaps in consumer, data protection, privacy and sectoral laws. The book thoughtfully proposes realistic and layered solutions which are all the more urgent given the now turbocharging effects of AI. This book is a very important opportunity to act and change course and to do so right now.

• PrefacePart I: Dark, Darker, and Darkest Patterns1. A Frightening Future Awaits, Unless...2. Deceptive Techniques and their Associated Harms3. Regulatory Responses to Dark Patterns and Deceptive Design4. Emerging Digital Design Laws and Regulations Part II: Manipulation Beneath the Interface5. System Architecture Patterns and the Personalisation of Exploitation6. AI-Powered Deceptive Design7. The Illusion of Control: Who is Truly Vulnerable?Part III: The Fight Against Dark Patterns and Deceptive Design8. Toward a Future Free of ManipulationAfterword: Reflections on the Ride