Short version: Hushfern reads eligible visible text only to provide toxicity filtering after you enable protection. Classification happens locally. Page text is not sent to the Hushfern developer or to an inference service.
1. Scope
This Privacy Policy describes how the Hushfern Chrome extension accesses, uses, stores, and discloses information. It applies to the extension and the legal pages published for it. It does not govern Chrome, the Chrome Web Store, websites you visit, or third-party services that operate under their own policies.
2. Information Hushfern handles
Chrome considers website content and browsing activity to be user data even when they are processed only on the user's device. Hushfern handles the following limited categories to provide its disclosed filtering and history features.
| Information | Why it is used | Storage |
|---|---|---|
| Eligible visible webpage text | To classify potentially toxic text and apply the visual blur. | Processed transiently in extension memory. Not retained as analytics. |
| Website hostname | To show current-page status and group local protection history by site. | Stored in Chrome local extension storage with aggregate counts. |
| Protection activity | To show analyzed and hidden counts by hour, day, and selected period. | Stored as local aggregate statistics. |
| Preferences | To remember threshold, blur intensity, and hover behavior. | Stored in Chrome local extension storage. |
| Consent choice | To keep protection dormant until enabled and remember if it is later turned off. | Stored in Chrome local extension storage with a version and decision time. |
| Local exceptions | To honor domain or text exceptions if they exist, including legacy entries. | Stored locally until removed, cleared, or the extension is uninstalled. |
Content Hushfern is designed to exclude
Hushfern is designed not to analyze editable fields such as inputs, textareas, and content-editable regions. It also excludes code, navigation, and content hidden from view where detected. No automated selector can guarantee perfect classification of every website structure, so users should avoid entering sensitive information into ordinary non-editable page elements while an extension has page access.
3. How information is used
On first run, Hushfern presents a disclosure and does not analyze webpage text or initialize its classifier until the user chooses Enable protection.
Hushfern uses the information above only to:
- Analyze eligible text for toxicity on the user's device.
- Hide text that meets the user-selected toxicity threshold.
- Apply the user's blur and hover preferences.
- Show current-page counts and locally stored protection history.
- Maintain local site or text exceptions where present.
The information is not used for advertising, cross-site tracking, personalized marketing, creditworthiness, lending, insurance, employment, housing, or any purpose unrelated to Hushfern's disclosed functionality.
4. Local processing and model files
Toxicity classification runs locally in an extension-owned offscreen document. The model, tokenizer, configuration, and ONNX runtime files are packaged with Hushfern. Hushfern does not send webpage text to the developer, a hosted inference endpoint, an advertising platform, or a third-party analytics service.
Chrome may download extension installations and updates from the Chrome Web Store. That distribution is provided by Google and is separate from Hushfern's local page analysis.
5. Sharing, sale, and human access
Hushfern does not sell, rent, disclose, or transfer analyzed page text, hostnames, settings, or protection history to the developer or to third parties. The developer does not receive these locally stored records and does not provide human access to them.
Websites you visit, Chrome, your operating system, and any browser synchronization or device-management services you independently use may handle information under their own terms. Hushfern does not control those services.
6. Retention and security
Daily protection activity is retained locally for a rolling period of up to 90 days. Aggregate lifetime totals, preferences, and exception entries may remain until the extension's local storage is cleared or Hushfern is uninstalled.
Hushfern minimizes retained information and uses Chrome's extension storage rather than a developer-operated database. No system can promise absolute security, but keeping analysis and history local reduces exposure to remote collection and breach.
7. Chrome permissions
- Website access: reads eligible text on ordinary HTTP and HTTPS pages so filtering can work across the web.
- Storage: saves settings, exceptions, and aggregate protection history locally.
- Offscreen: provides an extension-owned context for local model inference.
- Scripting: reconnects Hushfern to supported tabs after installation or update when Chrome permits it.
Chrome internal pages and the Chrome Web Store restrict content-script access, so Hushfern cannot operate on those pages.
8. Your choices and deletion
You can control Hushfern by:
- Enabling protection from the first-run disclosure.
- Reviewing or revoking that choice from Privacy & consent in the popup.
- Changing the toxicity threshold, blur intensity, and hover setting.
- Pausing or removing Hushfern's access through Chrome's extension controls.
- Clearing Hushfern's extension storage through Chrome.
- Uninstalling Hushfern, which removes its local extension storage.
Because Hushfern does not operate an account system or receive the local records, the developer cannot retrieve, export, edit, or delete data from your device on your behalf.
9. Chrome Web Store Limited Use
Hushfern's use of information complies with the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Information is accessed and used only to provide or improve Hushfern's disclosed, user-facing toxicity-filtering functionality and directly related operational features.
10. Children's privacy
Hushfern does not require an account and the developer does not knowingly collect personal information from children. Parents and guardians should manage extension installation and browsing permissions for children under their supervision.
11. Changes to this policy
This policy may be updated when Hushfern's features, data practices, or legal obligations change. The effective date and policy version will be updated. Material changes to data practices will also be disclosed through the product or Chrome Web Store listing before the changed practice applies.
12. Contact
Privacy questions can be submitted through the Hushfern support tracker. Do not include sensitive webpage content, passwords, authentication tokens, or other private information in a public issue.