PRIVACY POLICY FOR POPSHIELD - POP UP & OVERLAY BLOCKER
Last Updated: October 2026
Version: 1.0.0
1. OUR PRIVACY PHILOSOPHY & CORE COMMITMENT
PopShield ("we", "our", or "the extension") was built with an uncompromising commitment to user privacy. We firmly believe that privacy tools should protect you without monitoring your personal habits.
PopShield is engineered from the ground up to operate 100% client-side within your browser.
• We do NOT collect your personal information.
• We do NOT track or store your browsing history.
• We do NOT transmit any data to external servers or cloud services.
• We do NOT sell, rent, monetize, or trade any user data to third parties, advertisers, or data brokers.
• No account creation or registration is ever required.
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2. PERMISSIONS EXPLAINED: WHY ARE THEY NEEDED?
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To block intrusive popups and restore locked page scrolling across the web, PopShield requires only two strictly minimized permissions:
A. "storage"
• Purpose: Enables the extension to save your preferences locally on your machine.
• What is stored:
- Your shield toggle states (e.g., whether cookie banner blocking is turned on or off).
- Your personal domain whitelist (websites where you explicitly choose to allow popups).
- Your custom hidden element rules (created when you use the Element Zapper tool).
- Aggregate local counter statistics (total number of popups and overlays blocked).
• Storage Location: All data is saved exclusively using Chrome's native `chrome.storage.local` API on your local computer. It is never transmitted across the network.
B. Host Permissions ("<all_urls>")
• Purpose: Required for the content script to execute on web pages you browse.
• How it is used: Because intrusive pop-up windows, popunder scripts, full-screen overlay dialogs, and cookie consent banners can be embedded on any website across the internet, PopShield must be capable of running its lightweight filtering scripts on those pages to detect and neutralize unwanted popups and restore frozen page scrolling.
• Important: PopShield inspects page DOM elements purely in real time to locate popups and overlays. It does NOT read your credentials, form inputs, passwords, payment info, or private messages.
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3. ARE ALL THESE PERMISSIONS TRULY NECESSARY?
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YES — every requested permission is strictly essential and audited for minimal privilege:
Q: Could we remove "<all_urls>"?
A: No. A pop-up and overlay blocker that only works on pre-selected websites cannot protect you when browsing the broader web. Popups occur unpredictably across news outlets, streaming portals, blogs, and forums. Without host permissions, the extension would be powerless to intercept popups or dismiss screen-locking overlays as pages load.
Q: Is "activeTab" needed?
A: No. Because PopShield already possesses host permissions for `<all_urls>` to block popups globally, the separate `activeTab` permission was determined to be redundant and has been completely removed from manifest.json to adhere strictly to the Principle of Least Privilege.
Q: Have all excessive or dangerous permissions been eliminated?
A: ABSOLUTELY. We intentionally avoided numerous high-risk permissions commonly abused by other extensions:
• NO "tabs" permission: We cannot read your browsing history, monitor background tabs, or track what URLs you visit outside the active tab.
• NO "cookies" permission: We cannot view, read, or modify your login cookies or session tokens.
• NO "webRequest" or "declarativeNetRequestFeedback": We do not inspect or redirect your raw network traffic.
• NO "identity" permission: We do not access your Google Account, profile, or identity.
• NO "management" permission: We do not interact with your other installed extensions.
Every line of code in PopShield is stripped of bloat and focused solely on client-side pop-up and overlay suppression.
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4. DATA SECURITY & LOCAL RETENTION
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All configuration settings and statistics remain strictly inside your browser profile. If you choose to uninstall PopShield or clear your browser data, all stored preferences and local counters are immediately and permanently erased from your system.
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5. THIRD-PARTY SERVICES & ANALYTICS
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PopShield does NOT incorporate any third-party analytics libraries (such as Google Analytics, Mixpanel, or telemetry trackers) and contains no external advertising SDKs. The extension runs in complete isolation on your machine.
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6. POLICY CHANGES & CONTACT
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Should any updates be made to PopShield in the future, this privacy policy will remain aligned with our zero-data-collection promise.
If you have questions, feedback, or suggestions regarding our privacy practices, please contact our team via the extension repository or support portal.