Privacy Policy for Impact news-lens

Last Updated: October 6, 2025

Overview

Impact news-lens is committed to protecting your privacy. This extension helps you analyze news articles using AI to generate critical questions and impact summaries. The extension prioritizes transparency and minimal data collection.

What This Extension Collects

Data That IS Collected:

• Usage Counter: The number of analyses you perform per month (limited to 50 free analyses) stored locally on your device
• User Preferences: Language selection (EN, NL, DE, ES) stored locally on your device

Data That IS NOT Collected:

• ❌ Browsing history
• ❌ Article content you analyze (not stored or logged)
• ❌ Personal information
• ❌ Cookies or tracking data
• ❌ IP addresses
• ❌ Any data that could identify you
• ❌ Analytics or usage patterns

How Your Data Is Used

The extension processes news articles only when you explicitly click the extension icon to request an analysis. The article text is:

• Temporarily extracted from the current tab
• Sent to our AI service for analysis
• Immediately discarded after generating the response
• Never stored or logged on our servers

Analysis results (questions, summaries, ratings) are cached locally on your device for 1 hour to enable convenient features like language switching without re-analyzing. After 1 hour, the cache is automatically cleared.

When you switch languages after an analysis, only the structured analysis results (not the original article text) are sent to our translation service to provide results in your selected language.

Your usage counter and language preferences remain locally on your device and are never transmitted to our servers.

Data Storage

All data is stored locally using Chrome's storage API:

• Usage counters reset automatically each month
• Language preferences persist until you change them
• No data is stored on external servers
• No database or cloud storage is used for user data

Third-Party Services

AI Processing

Article text is sent to the AI service for analysis. The AI service:

• Processes the text to generate questions and summaries
• Does NOT store the article content
• Does NOT log user information
• Does NOT share data with third parties
• Uses industry-standard encryption for data in transit

Translation Service

When you switch languages after performing an analysis, the structured analysis results (questions, summaries, ratings) are sent to the translation service. The translation service:

• Receives only the analysis results, NOT the original article text
• Translates the analysis to your selected language
• Does NOT store or log the analysis data
• Does NOT share data with third parties
• Uses industry-standard encryption for data in transit

No other third-party services, analytics, or tracking tools are used by this extension.

Permissions Explained

This extension requests the following permissions. Here's exactly why each one is needed:

activeTab

Used to read article content only when you click the extension icon. No automatic or background reading occurs. The page is only accessed when you explicitly request an analysis.

storage

Stores your language preference and monthly usage counter locally on your device. This data never leaves your computer.

sidePanel

Displays the analysis results in a side panel for convenient reading alongside the article.

scripting

Used to extract article content from the page only when you click the extension icon. This permission allows us to read the article text for analysis purposes only.

Data Sharing

This extension does NOT:

• Sell your data to anyone
• Share your data with advertisers
• Provide data to third parties for marketing purposes
• Track you across websites
• Create user profiles or behavioral analytics
• Share data with data brokers

Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Use the extension without creating an account or providing personal information
• Delete all local data at any time by uninstalling the extension
• Request information about our data practices (contact information below)
• Use the extension without being tracked or monitored

Children's Privacy

This extension does not knowingly collect data from children under 13. No age verification or personal information is required to use the extension. The extension complies with COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act).

International Users & GDPR Compliance

For users in the European Union:

• This extension complies with GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)
• Minimal data is processed (usage counter and language preference only)
• All processing is done locally on your device (data controller: you)
• Article analysis is done on a legal basis of legitimate interest with your explicit consent (clicking analyze)
• You have the right to data portability (though minimal data is stored locally)

Changes to This Policy

This privacy policy may be updated from time to time to reflect changes in practices or legal requirements. When significant changes are made:

• The "Last Updated" date at the top will be updated
• Users will be notified through the extension update notes
• Continued use after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy

Data Retention

• Usage counters: Reset automatically on the first day of each month
• Language preferences: Retained until you change them or uninstall the extension
• Analyzed articles: Never stored anywhere - article text is immediately discarded after analysis
• Analysis results: Cached locally on your device for 1 hour for convenience (e.g., switching languages), then automatically discarded

Security

Security measures are implemented to protect your privacy, including:

• Content Security Policy (CSP) to prevent unauthorized code execution
• No remote code execution or dynamic script loading
• Minimal permission requests (principle of least privilege)
• Local-only data storage for preferences
• HTTPS encryption for all API communications
• Regular security reviews and updates

California Privacy Rights (CCPA)

For California residents:

• Personal information is not sold
• Minimal data is collected (usage counter and language preference, stored locally)
• You have the right to know what data is collected (outlined above)
• You have the right to delete data (uninstall the extension)

Cookies and Tracking

Impact news-lens does NOT use:

• Cookies
• Web beacons or tracking pixels
• Fingerprinting techniques
• Analytics or telemetry
• Any form of cross-site tracking

Contact

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this privacy policy or our data practices, please contact us:

• Via LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/cindycrijns
• Website: impactnewstoday.com

Open Source & Transparency

This extension believes in transparency. If you're technically inclined, you can review the extension's code to verify these privacy practices. The extension uses standard Chrome APIs and makes no hidden network requests beyond the analysis API when you explicitly click analyze.