ClearPath Audits
This is a sample report demonstrating our audit output format. The website and findings are illustrative.
Compliance Audit Report

example-ecommerce.com

Example E-Commerce Inc. · San Francisco, California

Audit Date: May 2026 · Auditor: ClearPath Audits · Plan: Professional

7/ 10

Overall Score

POOR

4

Dark Patterns Found

113

Accessibility Issues

4

Critical Violations

11

Laws Potentially Violated

Score Context

1 — Excellent5 — Fair10 — Critical

Executive Summary

The audit of example-ecommerce.com identified significant compliance failures across both dark pattern and web accessibility dimensions, resulting in an overall score of 7 out of 10 — indicating serious violations with elevated legal exposure.

The most severe findings are the Forced Continuity subscription cancellation barrier (violating ROSCA and the FTC Click-to-Cancel Rule) and two keyboard traps in modal dialogs (violating ADA Title III, Level A — the most basic accessibility requirement). As a California-domiciled company, the site also faces significant exposure under the CCPA/CPRA for its pre-checked consent dark pattern and the Unruh Civil Rights Act for its accessibility failures ($4,000/violation).

Immediate Action Required

  • → Fix keyboard traps (ADA Level A)
  • → Remove forced continuity (ROSCA)
  • → Fix consent dark pattern (CPRA)

Address Within 30 Days

  • → Alt text for all 47 images
  • → Disclose fees from first step
  • → Remove false countdown timers

Address Within 90 Days

  • → Contrast ratios (31 failures)
  • → Caption 12 videos
  • → Label all 18 form fields

Dark Pattern Findings (4)

10
DP-01

Forced Continuity / Roach Motel

Critical

Location: /account/settings → Billing → Manage Plan

The subscription cancellation flow requires users to navigate through 6 screens, including a 15-minute wait on hold to speak to a "retention specialist." A "Cancel Plan" button does not appear until the third confirmation screen. Users cannot cancel from the account settings page.

Laws & Regulations Violated

ROSCA15 U.S.C. § 8403(c)

Requires cancellation mechanisms to be simple and must be accessible via the same channel used to subscribe.

FTC Click-to-Cancel Rule (2024)16 C.F.R. § 425

Mandates that cancellation must be at least as easy as enrollment, and available online if enrollment was online.

FTC Act § 515 U.S.C. § 45

Suppressing the cancellation path constitutes an unfair or deceptive act or practice.

California Automatic Renewal LawCal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17602

Requires a cost-effective, timely, and easy-to-use mechanism for cancellation.

Recommended Remediation

Provide a single-click "Cancel Subscription" button accessible directly from account settings, effective immediately without hold requirements.

8
DP-02

Drip Pricing — Hidden Processing Fee

High

Location: /checkout → Payment → Order Review

A $12.99 "processing and fulfillment fee" is not disclosed until the final checkout step after the user has entered payment information. The advertised product price is $29.99; the final charge is $42.98 — a 43% increase revealed only at the payment confirmation screen.

Laws & Regulations Violated

FTC Act § 515 U.S.C. § 45

Hidden fees constitute a deceptive practice when material costs are not clearly disclosed before purchase commitment.

California Consumer Legal Remedies ActCal. Civil Code § 1770(a)(14)

Prohibits representing goods have characteristics they do not have, including price misrepresentation.

FTC Junk Fees Rule (Proposed)FTC Docket No. FTC-2023-0064

Would explicitly prohibit hidden fees in consumer transactions.

Recommended Remediation

Display the total all-in price (including all fees) on the product page and all checkout steps. Itemize fees in the order summary from the first step.

9
DP-03

Privacy Zuckering — Consent Dark Pattern

Critical

Location: Cookie consent banner (all pages)

The cookie consent banner pre-selects all tracking categories including advertising and behavioral profiling. "Accept All" is a prominent colored button; "Manage Preferences" leads to a secondary screen where every category is pre-checked and requires individual deselection. Rejecting all requires 23 distinct clicks.

Laws & Regulations Violated

CCPA / CPRACal. Civil Code § 1798.185(a)(20)

CPPA regulations prohibit UI designs that "subvert or impair" a consumer's ability to make privacy choices, including pre-checked boxes for non-essential data.

Colorado Privacy ActC.R.S. § 6-1-1308(5)

Explicitly prohibits dark patterns in consent interfaces for data processing.

FTC Dark Patterns GuidanceFTC Report (Sept 2022)

Making it harder to reject than accept data collection constitutes a dark pattern.

Recommended Remediation

Default all non-essential tracking to off. Provide a single "Reject All" button at the same visual hierarchy as "Accept All." No pre-checked boxes for advertising or behavioral tracking.

7
DP-04

Misleading Urgency — False Countdown Timer

High

Location: /pricing, /checkout

A "Sale ends in: 02:45:33" countdown timer resets to the same value on page refresh and persists across sessions and browsers, confirming it is not a real deadline. The "50% off today only" promotion has been active for at least 3 months based on cached page snapshots.

Laws & Regulations Violated

FTC Act § 515 U.S.C. § 45

False urgency constitutes a material misrepresentation that can induce consumer harm.

California Unfair Competition LawCal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200

Unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business practice prohibition applies to deceptive promotional claims.

Recommended Remediation

Remove artificial timers. If discounts are time-limited, use real server-side deadlines and stop the promotion when the deadline passes.

Accessibility Findings (5 types, 113 instances)

47
inst.
A11Y-01

Images Completely Lacking Alt Text

CriticalWCAG 1.1.1 (Level A)

Impact: ~7.6 million blind or severely vision-impaired Americans

47 images across the site — including product images, CTA banners, and informational infographics — have empty or absent alt attributes. Screen readers either skip them silently or announce the file name (e.g., "img_header_20231104_FINAL_v3.png").

Applicable Laws

ADA Title III42 U.S.C. § 12182
Section 50829 U.S.C. § 794d; 36 C.F.R. § 1194.22(a)
Unruh Civil Rights ActCal. Civil Code § 51
NYSHRLN.Y. Exec. Law § 296

Recommended Remediation

Provide descriptive alt text for all informational images. Use alt="" only for decorative images. Never use the file name or "image" as alt text.

31
inst.
A11Y-02

Insufficient Color Contrast

HighWCAG 1.4.3 (Level AA)

Impact: ~8 million Americans with low vision; ~12 million with color vision deficiency

31 text/background combinations fail the 4.5:1 minimum contrast ratio required for normal text. The most critical failures are light gray body text (#9CA3AF) on white (#FFFFFF), achieving only 2.85:1, and the primary CTA button text at 2.1:1.

Applicable Laws

ADA Title III42 U.S.C. § 12182
WCAG 2.2 AASuccess Criterion 1.4.3
Section 50836 C.F.R. § 1194 (WCAG 2.0 AA reference)

Recommended Remediation

Use a color contrast checker (e.g., WebAIM) for all text combinations. Target at least 4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text (18pt+). Update design tokens accordingly.

5
inst.
A11Y-03

Keyboard Trap in Modal Dialogs

CriticalWCAG 2.1.2 (Level A)

Impact: ~2.3 million Americans who rely on keyboards or switch controls

Five modal dialogs (newsletter popup, video lightbox, share dialog, upsell modal, cookie manager) trap keyboard focus — once opened, users cannot close them via keyboard. Escape key does not dismiss them. Focus leaves the modal and reaches underlying page elements.

Applicable Laws

ADA Title III42 U.S.C. § 12182
Section 50836 C.F.R. § 1194.21(a)
CVAA47 U.S.C. § 303(u)

Recommended Remediation

Implement focus trapping inside modals (keep focus within the dialog), support Escape key to close, and return focus to the triggering element on close. Use the ARIA dialog pattern.

18
inst.
A11Y-04

Form Fields Without Labels

HighWCAG 1.3.1, 4.1.2 (Level A)

Impact: Blind users, users with cognitive disabilities, all keyboard users

18 form inputs use placeholder text instead of associated <label> elements. Placeholders disappear as users type, leaving them without field context. Screen readers announce "edit text" with no description for unlabeled fields.

Applicable Laws

ADA Title III42 U.S.C. § 12182
Section 50836 C.F.R. § 1194.22(n)

Recommended Remediation

Associate every input with a <label> element using for/id pairing, or use aria-label/aria-labelledby. Never rely solely on placeholder text.

12
inst.
A11Y-05

Videos Without Captions

HighWCAG 1.2.2 (Level A)

Impact: ~11 million Deaf and hard-of-hearing Americans

12 pre-recorded video elements have no closed captions. Auto-generated captions (where present) are inaccurate and have not been reviewed or corrected.

Applicable Laws

ADA Title III42 U.S.C. § 12182
CVAA47 U.S.C. § 303(u); FCC 47 C.F.R. § 79.4
Section 50836 C.F.R. § 1194.24(c)

Recommended Remediation

Provide accurate, synchronized closed captions for all pre-recorded video. Review and correct auto-generated captions before publishing. Consider transcripts for enhanced accessibility.

Laws Potentially Violated

Law / RegulationCitationJurisdictionFindings
ADA Title III42 U.S.C. § 12182FederalA11Y-01 through A11Y-05
Section 50829 U.S.C. § 794dFederalA11Y-01, A11Y-02, A11Y-03, A11Y-04, A11Y-05
ROSCA15 U.S.C. § 8403FederalDP-01
FTC Click-to-Cancel Rule16 C.F.R. § 425FederalDP-01
FTC Act § 515 U.S.C. § 45FederalDP-01, DP-02, DP-03, DP-04
CVAA47 U.S.C. § 303FederalA11Y-03, A11Y-05
Unruh Civil Rights ActCal. Civil Code § 51CaliforniaA11Y-01 through A11Y-05
CCPA / CPRACal. Civil Code § 1798.100CaliforniaDP-03
California Auto-Renewal LawCal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17602CaliforniaDP-01
California UCLCal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200CaliforniaDP-04
Cal. Consumer Legal Remedies ActCal. Civil Code § 1770CaliforniaDP-02
Disclaimer: This sample report is for illustrative purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice. Law citations are provided for informational purposes and should be verified by qualified legal counsel. Applicability of specific laws depends on your organization's circumstances, jurisdiction, and the nature of your business.

Ready for your real audit?

Submit your site and receive a report like this — with your actual findings, your actual score, and law citations specific to your state.

Request an Audit