An Empirical Analysis of E-Governments’ Cookie Interfaces in 50 Countries

Juna Alhumaidi Alharbi, Abdulmohsen Saud Albesher () and Heider Ahmad Wahsheh
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Juna Alhumaidi Alharbi: Information Systems Department, College of Computer Sciences & Information Technology, King Faisal University, Alahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia
Abdulmohsen Saud Albesher: Information Systems Department, College of Computer Sciences & Information Technology, King Faisal University, Alahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia
Heider Ahmad Wahsheh: Information Systems Department, College of Computer Sciences & Information Technology, King Faisal University, Alahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 2, 1-23

Abstract: Cookies have been used by websites to store information about user behavior. Although they provide several benefits, including improving user experience, they can threaten user privacy, particularly when websites use third-party cookies for data analysis. Websites must inform their users about what data are collected and how they are used through the cookie interface. Thus, it is important to understand the effects of cookie interface design on user behavior to verify whether these interfaces provide users with the required information to make an informed decision. In this paper, we evaluated the cookie interfaces of 243 E-Government websites based on well-defined guidelines to understand the critical factors designers should consider when designing cookie interfaces. To evaluate the cookies interfaces’ usability, we selected one of the inspection-based methods called the individual expert review method. The results showed that European websites are more compliant with the adopted guidelines. Surprisingly, more than 50% of the websites did not provide a cookie interface to their users, while more than 40% did not provide a privacy policy. The primary finding of this study is that over 90% of the websites use dark patterns in their interfaces. The study concludes with some recommendations to help in designing a usable privacy interface.

Keywords: cookie consent; cookie interface; data; dark patterns; GDPR; privacy; privacy by design; usability; usable privacy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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