Websites User Relations: Unfriendly or Unethical ?

Authors

michel plaisent, university of quebec at montrealFollow
Asli Gul ONCEL, Galatasaray UniversityFollow
Daniel Tomiuk, university of quebec at montrealFollow
prosper bernard, university of quebec at montrealFollow

Paper Number

1027

Abstract

Did buzzwords for computer-related emotions evolved from “anxiety” to “acceptance” to become nowadays “submission” and “abdication” ? From search of innovation to digital governance, as suggested by Floridi (2018) ? Is there a tendency to force users to behave accordingly to provider’s choices without concerns for their consequences on user. Contracts, passwords and cookies illustrate the case. Contracts: users must agree to license terms before installing application, rarely printable, often presented in tiny windows and, always written by lawyers, protecting the provider not the user. Regulation and governance were created to increase fair conditions and providers respect the law and internet governance rules strictly but is it ethical ? Passwords: are source of frustration when a user is to enter a new password of their choice, but receives an error message stating that the password requirements were not respected, although they were never communicated in the first place, with their specificities about upper/lower case and numeric or symbol presence. This is not unethical but certainly not friendly. Cookies: users are more or less aware of cookies installed and often accept limited choice when asked to approve their installation, little knowledge of their action, content and duration. Accepting is convenient to rushed user and personalization seems complex, so passivity is the rule: users click away any requests for consent. Many website necessitate some level of cookies to deliver their service. The problem is widespread, and advertisers use redirection techniques tricking browsers to think a cookie is not profiting some third party (Koop et al, 2020). Unfriendly or unethical? Cookies are regulated under a sub-section of our Privacy Policy of the Internet Governance Forum Support Association (IGFSA). In theory, internet is governed by concensus but Google announced its intention to replace third-party cookies from Chrome (2/3 of the market) by its own privacy technology , “Federated Learning of Cohorts”. The business world which has invested heavily on cookies to manage their marketing was shocked. At first sight it maybe a good news for individual avid of privacy following the Cambridge Analytica revelations. Will provider’s reaction to these changes be beneficial to users?

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Recommended Citation

plaisent, michel; ONCEL, Asli Gul; Tomiuk, Daniel; and bernard, prosper, "Websites User Relations: Unfriendly or Unethical ?" (2022). PACIS 2022 Proceedings. 304.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/pacis2022/304