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May 26, 2006

Interface: Free “Smut” As Deception

Yevgeniy Medynskiy of the Culturally Embedded Computing Group at Cornell University has a paper available online on Free “Smut” As Deception.

Deceiving the user of an interface is usually considered a poor design decision. It is rare to find deceitful interfaces, and most of the time if a user recognizes deception, she will try to ensure that that experience not repeated. In this position paper, I will examine the deception in the interfaces to Thumbnail Gallery Posts (TGPs) – ad-driven websites providing links to purportedly free pornography. TGPs are some of the most popular destinations on the Internet, and the design of many of them suggests repeat users are common. After describing the deception in their interfaces, and how it is accomplished, I will speculate on why this type of deception has become a norm and why the users of these websites tolerate it, unlike most other forms of deception.

Posted by BrendaBrathwaite at May 26, 2006 12:19 PM | Discuss this post on our forums