Subscribing to online services is typically a straightforward process, but cancelling them can be arduous and confusing -- causing many to resign and continue paying for services they no longer use. Making the cancellation intentionally difficult is recognized as a dark pattern called Roach Motel. This paper characterizes the subscription and cancellation flows of popular news websites from four different countries, and discusses them in the context of recent regulatory changes. We study the design features that make it difficult to cancel a subscription and find several cancellation flows that feature intentional barriers, such as forcing users to type in a phrase or call a representative. Further, we find many subscription flows that do not adequately inform users about recurring charges. Our results point to a growing need for effective regulation of designs that trick, coerce, or manipulate users into paying for subscriptions they do not want.

翻译：订阅在线服务通常是一个简单的过程，但取消它们却可能繁琐且令人困惑——导致许多人放弃并继续为他们不再使用的服务付费。故意使取消变得困难被认定为一种称为“蟑螂旅馆”的黑暗模式。本文描述了来自四个不同国家的热门新闻网站的订阅和取消流程，并结合近期的监管变化进行讨论。我们研究了导致难以取消订阅的设计特征，发现多个取消流程中存在故意设置的障碍，例如强制用户输入短语或致电客服代表。此外，我们发现许多订阅流程未能充分告知用户关于重复收费的信息。我们的结果指向一个日益增长的需求，即有效监管那些欺骗、胁迫或操纵用户支付他们不想要的订阅费用的设计。