@conference {2025:europlop:unethical,
	title = {Dark Patterns for Unethical Computer Science},
	booktitle = {31st European Conference on Pattern Languages of Programs, People, and Practices (EuroPLoP)},
	year = {2025},
	month = {July},
	pages = {37{\textendash}362},
	publisher = {Springer},
	organization = {Springer},
	address = {Kloster Irsee, Germany},
	abstract = {As computer science changes people{\textquoteright}s lives and reprograms their world, its ethical implications should not be underestimated. In this paper we present eight dark patterns, which reflect how computer scientists focusing on simply doing their jobs, in specific situations, may blissfully ignore or willfully disregard the significant impact of their wonderful artificial machines on the ethical principles of goodness, truth and fairness. In other words, computer science is not neutral, as its applications and the design of information technology {\textendash} implicitly or explicitly {\textendash} reflect the ethical values of their makers. The dark patterns of forgetful mentalist, reverse improver, real virtuality escapist and willful ignorant disregard the ethical principle of truth. The principle of fairness is violated by the faceless assistant and reckless maintainer dark patterns, while the addiction peddler and autonomous killer dark patterns show a fundamental lack of concern towards the goodness principle. In writing this paper, our goal is to ensure the avoidance of these dark patterns in the future by raising awareness about them},
	keywords = {Ethics; Dark Patterns},
	doi = {10.1007/978-3-032-19157-1_16},
	author = {Cesare Pautasso}
}
@conference {2024:plop,
	title = {Dark Patterns for Unethical Software Engineering},
	booktitle = {31st International Conference on Pattern Languages of Programs, People \& Practices (PLoP)},
	year = {2024},
	month = {October},
	publisher = {ACM},
	organization = {ACM},
	address = {Portland, OR},
	abstract = {Unethical software engineers write software to satisfy harmful requirements. While patterns promote beneficial solutions to recurring problems, dark patterns intentionally introduce harmful solutions. In this paper we present a collection of 16 dark patterns widely used by unethical software engineers to violate users privacy (email pixel injector, stealthy input logger), pursue monetization at all costs (aggressive advertiser, ad-blocker detector, pay to win, artificial scarcity hoarder, DRM rug puller, obsolescence planner), commit digital frauds (cybersquatter, sneaky terms degrader, interoperability breaker), manipulate search rankings (fake review generator, search ranking kickbacker), and engage in unethical artificial intelligence practices (training data harvester, bot pretender, deceptive deepfaker). By discussing the ethical consequences of each pattern we aim to raise awareness about them and encourage their avoidance by ethical software engineers, architects and practitioners.},
	keywords = {Ethics; Dark Patterns},
	doi = {10.64346/PLoP2024p20},
	author = {Cesare Pautasso}
}
