Cutcutcut privacy policy

Cutcutcut is a Chrome extension that hides parts of web pages you choose, and keeps them hidden when you come back. This policy explains what it stores, where, and why.

The short version: there is no account, no server of ours, no analytics and no advertising in the extension. I never receive your data, unless you choose to send feedback. Opening the link to my website works like visiting any website, and is explained below.

Cutcutcut is made by Mihail Svetenco (Chișinău, Moldova) as part of Playground, a series of small tools. Contact: misha@sveten.co.

What Cutcutcut stores

Only what it needs to hide what you asked it to hide:

• The address of each site where you hid something, for example https://example.com.
• The page path, for things you hid on one page only, for example /news/article.
• How to find each hidden element again: a short technical description taken from the page's code, such as #newsletter or .sidebar, plus its type (such as "a box"), its rough size and its position. These identifiers are chosen by the site's developers and can contain words, but they are never the text you see on the page.
• Whether each item and each site is switched on or paused.
• A short name for each hidden item, taken from its text, such as "Subscribe to our newsletter", so the list is readable.
• A random identifier for this computer, used only to tell this computer's updates apart from your other computers' when syncing. It is not linked to you or your device.

Cutcutcut does not record the pages you visit, what you click or type, how long you spend anywhere, or anything else about your browsing. It only stores the result of you choosing "Hide it".

Where it is stored

• In your browser, on this computer. Everything above is kept in the browser's storage for the extension.
• The short names never leave this computer. They are kept in the extension's private storage and are never synced.
• Through browser sync, if you have it turned on. The site addresses, page paths, element descriptions, on/off states and the computer identifier are synced through your own browser account, so your hidden list reaches your other computers. In Chrome, this is Chrome's own sync service, handled by Google under Google's Privacy Policy. In other browsers that run Chrome extensions, such as Dia, sync depends on that browser and its own policy applies. Cutcutcut has no server of its own and sends nothing anywhere else.

Feedback you choose to send

The Cutcutcut menu has Send feedback. Nothing is sent unless you write a message and press Send. What is sent:

• Your message.
• Your email address, only if you type it in, so I can reply.
• The Cutcutcut, browser and operating-system versions, shown to you on the form before you send.
• The address of the page you're on, only if you tick "Include this page's address". Only the site and path are included (for example https://example.com/news/article), never the rest of the address.

It is delivered to me by email through Formspree, a form-to-email service with its own privacy policy. Formspree may also keep a copy of the submission. I use your feedback only to answer you and improve Cutcutcut, and I keep it only as long as that takes. If sending doesn't work, Cutcutcut offers to open the same message in your own email app instead, which sends nothing until you send it there. To have your feedback deleted, email misha@sveten.co.

The Playground link

The Cutcutcut popup has a link to my website, sveten.co. Nothing is sent while the link just sits there. If you click it, your browser opens the website, like any link.

The link carries a few fixed tags in its address (such as utm_source=cutcutcut). They only tell me that a visit came from the extension. They contain nothing about you and nothing about what you hid.

The Playground website

When you open sveten.co, including its Cutcutcut page and this policy, the site's host receives your request, as every website does. Hosts keep standard server logs (your IP address, the time, and the page requested) for security and reliability. I don't use these logs to identify you.

The page loads its typeface from Google Fonts, so Google also receives your IP address when the page loads.

No analytics. No advertising. No cookies set by the site.

If a page on the site has a form, such as an email sign-up, it says what it collects.

How it is used

Solely to hide the elements you chose, on the sites you chose, and to show you the list of what is hidden so you can bring things back. Nothing is used for any other purpose.

Third parties and sharing

Cutcutcut uses no analytics, crash reporting or advertising. Your data is not sold, shared or transferred to anyone. The only other parties involved are:

• Your browser's sync provider (Google, in Chrome), if you have sync turned on.
• Formspree, only for feedback you choose to send.
• The website host and Google Fonts, only if you visit sveten.co.

Permissions

Cutcutcut asks for access to one site at a time, only when you click "Allow on this site". That access is what lets it hide things on that site as the page loads. You can remove it at any time from the browser's extension settings.

Keeping and deleting your data

Your hidden list is kept until you remove it.

• Remove one item: use Remove in the Cutcutcut button's list, or on the "Everything you've hidden" page.
• Stop hiding on a site without deleting anything: switch that site off (pause).
• Remove everything: uninstall Cutcutcut. The browser deletes its data from this computer. The browser may keep synced extension data in your account so it can be restored if you reinstall; you can review and clear synced data from the browser's sync settings (in Chrome, chrome://settings/syncSetup).

Your rights

You can ask me what I hold about you (this only applies to feedback you sent), ask me to correct it, or ask me to delete it. Email misha@sveten.co. Everything in the extension itself is on your own computer, so you can inspect and delete it yourself, as described above.

Children

Cutcutcut is a general-purpose tool and does not knowingly collect any information from children.

Changes to this policy

If what Cutcutcut stores or where it goes ever changes, this policy will be updated first, the date at the top will change, and the change will be described in the extension's store listing notes.

Contact

Questions about privacy: misha@sveten.co