阅读理解
'Dark patterns' may sound like the title of a horror film going straight to DVD, but it is also the latest buzzword in the congressional conversation about Internet governance. Senator Mark R. Warner and Deb Fischer have introduced a bill that would bar technology companies from employing deceptive techniques to get users to make choices they otherwise would not, including consenting to data collection. Another, less abnormal term for dark patterns is 'nudges'—tricks based on psychological biases that platforms design into their systems to encourage users to complete transactions. Maybe data-sharing is turned on by default and takes tens of clicks to turn off, or maybe users must navigate a digital maze to cancel their accounts. Maybe a false dirty mark appears on an advertisement so a smartphone user trying to wipe it off ends up clicking. Maybe a box to purchase insurance for a flight reservation is automatically checked 'yes.' Mr. Warner and Ms. Fischer's bill is about more than data protection, but Mr. Warner has said he hopes it can be incorporated into a larger privacy package from Congress all the same. That makes sense. The focus on companies' coercive practices is another much-needed acknowledgment that the notice-and-consent model defining the data economy today is inadequate. A privacy law including some sort of duty of care should restrict not only what companies can do with user data but also how they can exploit users' limitations against them to extract more information than consumers would otherwise provide. Banning dark patterns would also bear on how consumers can exercise any rights Congress grants them to access, correct and delete their data. Still, there is cause for caution. Distinguishing unethical coercion from design choices meant to make things run more smoothly may prove difficult. Other parts of the bill present similar balancing problems: The legislation requires that users be informed before they become subjects of behavioral studies. That's great, but some worry that the constraint would effectively bar platforms from testing site features against one another altogether, despite the bill's safe harbor for small experiments used to determine consumer preferences. A prohibition on addictive features in products directed toward children also leaves open exactly which platforms would be on the hook. There's a lot to like in the so-called Detour Act, but there's also a lot to hammer out. The good news is that this latest buzzword signals a broader shift in the data debate toward putting the responsibility on platforms not to trick users, instead of putting the responsibility on users not to get tricked.
单选题
What does 'dark patterns' (Para. 1) mean? ______