Missing privacy policy

[maxmilton]

The most recent Chrome Web Store submission was rejected due to a "missing privacy policy".

Sadly there's little notice about where the privacy policy should be and how to link to it. Do we really need a privacy policy or could filling out the store listing better resolve the issue? This all seems a bit strange because the extension explicitly does not collect any user data and is very strict about privacy. The extension does however use browser supplied data (only) about open tabs, history search, etc. Because of the ambiguity this needs deeper looking into.

Excerpt from the rejection notification email:

Item name: New Tab

Item ID: cpcibnbdmpmcmnkhoiilpnlaepkepknb

Violation(s):

User data privacy:

- Violation reference ID: Purple Nickel
- Violation: Privacy policy link is broken or unavailable
- How to rectify: Add a publicly accessible and working link to your privacy policy.
- Relevant section of the programme policy:
    If your product handles personal or sensitive user data, then your product must post a privacy policy. (learn more)

"learn more" link: https://developer.chrome.com/webstore/program_policies#userdata

More info:

• https://developer.chrome.com/docs/webstore/troubleshooting/#udp-prominent-disclosure
• https://developer.chrome.com/docs/webstore/user_data/

[maxmilton]

Turns out the privacy policy is an account level thing and needs be be updated in the account settings (not the extension listing!). See https://stackoverflow.com/a/62534175.

I've drafted a policy at https://github.com/maxmilton/privacy-policy/blob/master/chrome-extensions.md and linked to it from my Chrome developer account. Fingers crossed the resubmission goes through without any further problems.

[maxmilton]

So yep, that was it. What a confusing issue! Poor DX on the Chrome Web Store :frowning_face: