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PRIVACY POLICY - Ambient Light for YouTube™
Last Updated: October 2026
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1. INTRODUCTION & OVERVIEW
Ambient Light for YouTube™ ("the Extension") is dedicated to protecting user privacy. This policy explains how the extension handles user data, why specific permissions are required, and confirms that our architecture follows a strict zero-data-collection philosophy.
The Extension operates 100% locally on your computer. We do not operate external tracking servers, analytics endpoints, or advertising networks.
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2. DATA COLLECTION & USAGE
- Personal Data: ZERO personal data is collected, monitored, stored, or transmitted.
- Browsing History: We do NOT track, record, or inspect your browsing history, searches, watch history, bookmarks, or account details.
- Video Content: The Extension samples video frames strictly within your browser's local GPU/canvas memory in real time to render blurred backlight effects. No video frames, audio, or metadata are ever saved or transmitted over the internet.
- User Preferences: User configuration settings (glow spread, blur radius, brightness, saturation, opacity, selected presets, and frame rate) are stored locally on your device via Chrome's native `chrome.storage.local` API.
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3. EXPLANATION OF PERMISSIONS & WHY THEY ARE NECESSARY
The Extension declares the following minimal permissions in manifest.json:
a) "storage"
Purpose:
Allows the Extension to remember your custom backlight settings (spread, blur, brightness, saturation, cinema mode, and preset preferences).
Why it is needed:
Without this permission, every time you refresh YouTube or restart your browser, your slider adjustments would reset to default values. It stores simple key-value pairs strictly on your local disk.
b) Host Permissions: "*://*.youtube.com/*"
Purpose:
Allows the Extension's content script to run only when you visit YouTube.
Why it is needed:
To create the dynamic ambient backlight effect, the Extension must locate the HTML5 `<video>` player element on YouTube, read the current video frame colors using an in-memory canvas, and render the soft glow layer behind the video player container.
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4. ARE ALL THESE PERMISSIONS STRICTLY NECESSARY? (AUDIT & JUSTIFICATION)
YES. Every declared permission has been audited according to the Principle of Least Privilege:
- Can the extension function without `*://*.youtube.com/*`?
No. Browser security prevents extensions from reading or modifying web pages unless explicit host permissions are granted. Without access to YouTube, the extension cannot inspect the video player or display the ambient lighting effect.
- Why isn't `<all_urls>` requested?
Unlike many other extensions that request access to all websites, Ambient Light for YouTube™ strictly restricts its host permissions to `youtube.com` only. It cannot see, access, or interact with any other site you visit.
- Can the extension function without `storage`?
The visual effect could technically render using default settings, but your preferences (such as custom blur, brightness, or cinema mode) would not be saved between sessions or page reloads.
- Are any sensitive or invasive permissions used?
NO. The Extension DOES NOT request:
* No `webRequest` or `declarativeNetRequest` (we do not inspect or intercept network traffic)
* No `cookies` (we do not read or modify your authentication cookies)
* No `tabs` (we do not track which tabs or URLs you open)
* No `management` or `nativeMessaging`
* No background network fetch requests to external servers
This makes Ambient Light for YouTube™ fully compliant with Google Chrome Web Store policies, GDPR, and modern privacy standards.
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5. THIRD-PARTY SHARING
We do NOT share, sell, lease, or distribute any user information to third parties, advertisers, or analytics providers.
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6. CONTACT & INQUIRIES
If you have questions regarding this Privacy Policy or the security of the extension, you can inspect the full open-source extension codebase or contact the developer via the official Chrome Web Store listing support page.