Parallax (\u201Cthe Extension\u201D) is a Chrome browser extension that detects rhetorical framing, logical fallacies, selective evidence, and persuasion techniques in articles. This policy describes what data we collect, why, and how we protect it.
1. Data We Collect
a) Personally Identifiable Information
Email address \u2014 collected when you sign in via magic link, used solely for authentication and account identification.
b) Authentication Information
JWT token \u2014 stored locally in chrome.storage.local to maintain your logged-in session. We never store passwords.
c) Website Content
Article text \u2014 when you initiate a scan, the visible article text on the current page is sent to our server for AI analysis. We do not collect text without your explicit action.
d) Anonymous Identifiers
Anonymous user ID \u2014 a randomly generated UUID assigned to unauthenticated users for community voting and quota tracking. This ID is not linked to any personal information.
e) Anonymised Usage Analytics
Engagement events \u2014 we record which annotations you interact with (e.g. clicking for more detail, clicking a source link, or dismissing an annotation). These events are tied to your anonymous user ID, not your email or identity.
Article-level framing scores \u2014 the overall framing score and technique breakdown for articles you scan are stored with the article\u2019s domain to help calibrate our scoring algorithm across news sources.
Chat transcripts \u2014 your chat questions and the AI\u2019s responses are stored without any personal identifiers to help improve detection accuracy. This is enabled by default and you can disable it at any time by unchecking \u201CShare anonymised chat data\u201D in the sidebar.
2. Data We Do NOT Collect
Health information
Financial or payment information (Stripe handles all payment processing directly; we never see or store card details)
Personal communications
Location data
Browsing history or URLs visited (we store article URLs you explicitly scan, not general browsing)
Time spent on pages, mouse movements, scrolling, or keystrokes
3. How We Use Your Data
Email & auth tokens \u2014 to authenticate you and manage your account (free or Pro plan).
Article text \u2014 sent to our analysis API to detect rhetorical techniques. Text is processed in real time and is not permanently stored on our servers.
Anonymous ID & votes \u2014 to power community voting on detected annotations without identifying you personally.
Scan quota \u2014 to enforce usage limits (3 free scans/month or unlimited for Pro).
Engagement analytics \u2014 to understand which detections are useful and improve our analysis accuracy over time. All analytics are anonymised.
Domain-level scoring data \u2014 to calibrate framing scores relative to each news source, making scores more meaningful and comparable.
4. Data Storage
All user data (auth token, email, quota, analysis results, votes) is stored locally on your device using chrome.storage.local. Our backend server processes article text for analysis but does not retain article content after the response is delivered. Anonymised engagement analytics and article-level scores are stored on our server to improve the service.
Railway \u2014 hosts our backend API. No user data is permanently stored on Railway infrastructure beyond transient request processing.
We do not sell, transfer, or share user data with any other third parties.
6. Data Transfer & Sale
We do not sell or transfer user data to third parties, apart from the approved use cases described above.
We do not use or transfer user data for purposes unrelated to the Extension\u2019s single purpose of epistemic annotation.
We do not use or transfer user data to determine creditworthiness or for lending purposes.
7. Remote Code
Parallax does not load or execute any remotely hosted code. All JavaScript is bundled within the extension package. Our server returns only JSON data (analysis results), never executable code.
8. Data Retention & Deletion
Local data is retained until you uninstall the extension or clear it manually. Server-side account data (email, plan status) can be deleted upon request by contacting us.
9. Your Rights
You may request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal data at any time by contacting us at the address below.
10. Changes to This Policy
We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be communicated through the Extension or on this page. The effective date at the top reflects the most recent revision.