This is the privacy policy for the Clear Links browser extension:

Summary

Clear Links browser extension:

  • Does not have any servers
  • Does not collect or transmit any data to its authors/maintainers
  • Uses some optional external services for expanding short URLs (e.g., bit.ly)

What User Data We Collect

We do not collect any data from you. We do not have any servers for this browser extension and no data is transmitted to the extension’s authors/maintainers. We do not need it or want it.

We do provide a feature in the options menu to only activate this extension for certain web domains. The user must provide these URLs/hostnames through the Options menu. This data is only stored locally within the extension and is not transmitted externally.

External Services

We provide functionality for short URLs to be expanded. A short URL is a service provided by external organisations that take long URLs and create a short version of that URL which redirects to it (making it easier for typing and sharing). URL shortening obscures the links destination domain, as it is replaced by the domain of the service provider. This extension offers to expand some short URLs, with your consent, so you can see the URLs destination. Consent is explicitly obtained because, to use this feature, you must log-in to those services though the Options menu.

URL shortening services do a lookup for the destination of the short URLs provided to it. This is the same as if you were to click on the link without this extension, whereby you would be navigated to the short link, and then redirected to the destination link. The difference is that the lookup can be provided by this extension when the mouse cursor moves over the link, not just once it is clicked.

The extension does contain a cache (short-term memory) of short URLs that have been previously expanded, to improve responsiveness of repetitive requests and avoid over-using URL shortening services, though this data is only stored and used within the browser extension.