Never said anything about policing PRICES... The sales pricing is dirty not illegal. Businesses should be free to price things however they want, but that doesn't mean certain sales pricing isn't a dirty trick. And it's DEFINITELEY not in the same category as these other practices.
Dark UI patterns and deceptive tactics are definitely grounds for legislation though, and those are the particulars of the article and this discussion not a nebulous discussion about %50 sales.
It's shitty and takes advantage of people. Dark patterns and automatically raising prices and making it near impossible to cancel accounts... this is what people are talking about legislating. Ff you are defending those dark patterns and deceptive tactics from being legislated against you are basically taking the position of a con man or someone who stands to profit from that behavior. They aren't providing a better service they're providing deceptive business practices.
Why would you try to implement some nationwide educational campaign instead of outlawing by definition a deceptive business practice? That would be a giant misallocation of resources and not even guaranteed to help. How are you going to educate the old and succeptible? They are the ones most prone to these attacks.
What you're saying isn't just late night TV ads can use $99.99 to appeal to customers, no one has a problem with that. You're saying sure go ahead and use Dark UI patterns and straight up deceiving pricing contracts to my elderly grandma, and you have no issue with that? She shoulda been better educated? OK then... Do you also think Kevin Trudeau is a stand up guy who deserves to be in business?
