The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have published a joint position paper, Harmful design in digital markets: How Online Choice Architecture practices can undermine consumer choice and control over personal information.
The paper sets out the harms that can arise when certain types of design practices are used to present information and choices to consumers about the collection and use of their personal information. It gives examples of concerning design practices, and provides a set of expectations that the ICO and CMA share of firms, and UX and product designers, that will support good practice.
The ICO and CMA recently held a joint workshop for stakeholders with an interest in online design practices and how they can promote meaningful user choice and control. As a follow up to that event we are now holding a free webinar on Tuesday 12 December at 4:00pm, available to all.
The webinar will have the overarching aims of:
- Helping to ensure a common understanding of the positions outlined in the joint paper, and the reasons for them,
- Sharing feedback from industry and design practitioners about the enablers and blockers of good practice concerning the design of privacy choices online, and
- Outlining questions firms should consider when faced with online interface and design choices that seek to engage people about how their personal data is processed.
PLEASE NOTE: The position paper and workshop form part of our work under the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum (DRCF). The DRCF is not a standalone legal entity and, for the avoidance of doubt, information submitted should be treated as information submitted to each DRCF member (CMA, Ofcom, ICO and FCA). We may share your information with the DRCF member regulators when considering and arranging future engagement on the paper, unless you ask us not to. Please read our privacy notice, and the DRCF’s privacy policy, for information about how we use your personal information.