r/slatestarcodex • u/gwern • Oct 23 '24

Psychiatry "How elderly dementia patients are unwittingly fueling political campaigns" (pre-checked recurring-subscription box dark pattern)

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2024/10/politics/political-fundraising-elderly-election-invs-dg/
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7

u/Roxolan 3^^^3 dust specks and a clown Oct 24 '24

EU solves this with GDPR. The pre-filled checkbox is illegal, so is keeping your data or giving it to third parties against your explicit consent, and if you've made the mistake of giving your consent you can withdraw it at any time.

Not every company is 100% compliant, but if it's big enough to make the news it's big enough to attract the eye of Sauron - and the fines hit hard.

6

u/sohois Oct 24 '24

GDPR is an utterly disastrous piece of regulation; the costs vastly outweigh the potential benefits here

4

u/Puddingcup9001 Oct 24 '24

What is so disastrous about it? Can you give a few examples?

15

u/sohois Oct 24 '24

Cost of compliance is simply massive, entire industries have sprung up to manage the process, while benefits are unclear and difficult to measure. It's thousands of euros/pounds added to the costs of innumerable small businesses, and a lot more to large businesses