Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Block Skip ("we", "us", "our") operates the Block Skip browser extension for Mozilla Firefox (the "Extension") and the website at blockskip.com (the "Website"). This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect through the Extension and the Website, how we use it, and the choices and rights you have.

If you have questions about this policy or about your data, contact us at support@blockskip.com.

2. Information We Collect

Extension reports (only with your Firefox data permission)

Firefox shows a "technical and interaction data" setting for the Extension. That setting is optional and is off unless you turn it on. When it is on, the Extension sends setup, attribution and search-status reports, plus periodic heartbeat signals, to api.blockskip.com. Those reports can include:

• Install and device details, including the Extension version and browser version.
• Random install and session identifiers generated by the Extension. These are not tied to your name or email.
• Your saved Block Skip data choice and whether the Block Skip search engine is active.
• Attribution details connected with the Extension, including campaign, click, affiliate, offer, source, bid and country codes when present.
• Technical Extension context attached to the event, such as the event type and time.

When the Firefox setting is off, these reports are not sent, are not queued, and are not sent later. Turning the setting off after it was on stops further reports.

Search terms

The Extension offers Google by Block Skip as a search engine. When you search with it, your search terms are sent to search.blockskip.com, which returns results from Google. Search terms are sent only when you use that search engine. They are not sent when you browse, and the Extension does not read searches you make elsewhere.

Website cookies and attribution

The Extension can read and set cookies on blockskip.com to keep attribution and session information consistent between the Website and the Extension. This cookie synchronization runs independently of the Firefox data permission described above. See Section 4 for details on cookies.

Information collected by the Website

When you visit the Website, our servers receive standard connection details such as your IP address, browser type, the page requested and the time of the request. A measurement script on the home, install-confirmation and uninstall pages records that those pages were viewed and whether the install button was used, so we can understand how people find and install the Extension.

If you use the contact form, we receive the name, email address and message you enter. The form is delivered by FormSubmit (see Section 8).

Browser permissions

The Extension asks Firefox for these permissions and uses them as follows:

• Access your data for all websites (host permission): required to block ad and tracker requests and to hide leftover ad containers on the pages you visit. Page content is processed locally in your browser and is not sent to us.
• tabs and activeTab: to show the current site and page in the popup and to reload the page after an allowlist change.
• storage: to save your allowlists, auto-refresh and dark mode preferences in your browser.
• cookies: to read and set attribution and session cookies on blockskip.com only.
• search: to check whether Google by Block Skip is your current default search engine.
• alarms: to schedule periodic heartbeat checks.
• webRequest, scripting and declarativeNetRequest: to apply the blocking rules and cosmetic filters.

What we do not collect

We do not collect your name, postal address, payment information, passwords or the contents of the web pages you visit. The Extension does not send your browsing history to us. There are no accounts, subscriptions or paid features.

3. How We Use Your Information

• To operate the Extension and the Website, including delivering search results when you use Google by Block Skip.
• To confirm that the Extension installed correctly and that its search engine setting is in the state you chose.
• To understand how people find and install the Extension (attribution), so we know which channels work.
• To answer messages you send us.
• To keep the Extension and Website secure and to detect misuse.

Legal basis (GDPR). Where the General Data Protection Regulation applies, we rely on your consent for the Extension reports (given through the Firefox data setting) and for non-essential Website cookies, and on our legitimate interest in operating, securing and improving the Extension and Website for the remaining processing described above.

4. Cookies and Tracking

The Website and the Extension use cookies on blockskip.com for these purposes:

• Attribution and session: to record how you arrived at the Website and to keep that information consistent with the Extension after installation.
• Preferences: to remember your choice in the Website's cookie notice. That choice is stored in a cookie named consent for twelve months.
• Measurement: the measurement script described in Section 2 may set cookies on the pages where it runs.

Choosing Decline in the cookie notice records your preference. It does not remove cookies that were set before you made the choice. You can view, block or delete cookies for blockskip.com at any time in Firefox under Settings, then Privacy & Security. Blocking cookies does not affect ad blocking.

The Extension does not read cookies from any site other than blockskip.com.

5. We Do Not Sell Your Personal Data

We do not sell, rent or trade personal information, and we have not done so in the preceding twelve months. We do not share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. This statement is made for the purposes of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act.

6. Data Retention

Extension reports and Website connection records are kept for as long as needed to serve the purposes in Section 3 and then deleted or aggregated so they no longer identify an installation. Contact form messages are kept for as long as needed to resolve your request. Preferences and allowlists stored in your browser stay there until you clear them or uninstall the Extension.

To ask for deletion of data associated with your installation, email support@blockskip.com. Because reports are keyed to random identifiers rather than to your name, we may ask for details that let us locate the right records.

7. Your Rights

If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland

Under the GDPR and equivalent laws you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Rectification of inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Erasure of your personal data in the circumstances the law provides.
• Restriction of processing while a request is being handled or where processing is contested.
• Data portability: to receive data you provided in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format.
• Object to processing based on legitimate interest, and to withdraw consent at any time without affecting processing that took place before withdrawal.

To exercise any of these rights, contact support@blockskip.com. We are not required to appoint a Data Protection Officer; that address is our contact point for all data matters. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority.

If you are a California resident

Under the CCPA you have the right to:

• Know what categories of personal information we collect, the sources, the purposes, and the categories of third parties we share it with. Sections 2, 3 and 8 describe these.
• Delete personal information we have collected from you, subject to legal exceptions.
• Correct inaccurate personal information.
• Opt out of sale or sharing. This does not apply because we do not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined by the CCPA.
• Non-discrimination. We will not treat you differently for exercising any of these rights.

Submit a request by emailing support@blockskip.com. An authorized agent may submit a request on your behalf with written permission.

8. Third-Party Services

• Mozilla Add-ons (AMO). The Extension is distributed through addons.mozilla.org. Mozilla's handling of your account and download data is covered by the Mozilla Privacy Policy.
• Google. Google by Block Skip returns results from Google. Once you are on a Google results page, Google's Privacy Policy applies.
• YouTube. The Extension modifies how YouTube pages load in your browser. It does not send anything to YouTube on your behalf beyond the requests the page itself makes.
• FormSubmit. The Website's contact form is delivered by FormSubmit, which processes the form contents to send them to us. See the FormSubmit privacy policy.

We do not control these services and are not responsible for their practices.

9. Children's Privacy

The Extension and Website are not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we will change the effective date at the top of this page. Continued use of the Extension or Website after a change means you accept the updated policy. For significant changes we will do our best to give more prominent notice, such as a note on the Website.

11. Contact Us

Block Skip
support@blockskip.com
blockskip.com