Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains what data the Sentinel — Rate This Page Chrome extension and companion website collect, how we use it, and what choices you have.

Who we are

Sentinel — Rate This Page is a student-led research project developed using the Chrome extension platform. The extension allows users to submit structured ratings about the quality, safety and trustworthiness of the web pages they are currently viewing. Collected data is used to analyse online content quality and to support experiments with content moderation and machine learning models.

This project is not a commercial product and does not sell or license user data. The data is only used for research, analytics, and improving the Sentinel tools.

Data collected by the Chrome extension

When you actively submit a rating through the Sentinel extension, we collect and store:

• Page URL: the full URL of the page you rated.
• Page metadata: such as domain, page title, and timestamp.
• Your rating inputs: numeric scores, toggles, or options you select in the popup (for example: perceived quality, bias, harm, or safety flags).
• Technical identifiers: a randomly generated extension identifier or similar internal ID to help us de-duplicate events and detect spam or abuse. This ID is not linked to your real name or email.

The extension does not collect your passwords, form inputs, or the full content of pages you visit. It only reads the current tab URL and limited metadata necessary to attach your rating to the page.

Data collected by the website

When you visit the Sentinel website, standard web server logs may record:

• IP address and approximate region.
• Browser type and version.
• Pages viewed and basic usage analytics.

This information is used to operate, secure, and understand usage of the website. We do not try to identify you personally from this data.

Purposes of processing

We use the data described above to:

• Associate community ratings with specific pages or domains so users and researchers can understand perceived content quality over time.
• Compute aggregate statistics (for example average rating per domain, distribution of safety flags).
• Train and evaluate experimental machine learning models for content classification and moderation.
• Detect spam, misuse, or obviously invalid submissions to protect the integrity of the dataset.
• Maintain and improve the extension and website.

We do not use Sentinel data for advertising, marketing profiles, credit decisions, or any purpose unrelated to the extension's core goal of researching and understanding online content quality.

Legal basis (where applicable)

Where data protection laws apply (for example in the UK or EU), we rely on our legitimate interests to process data for research, security and product improvement, balanced against your privacy rights.

How we share data

We do not sell or rent your data. We may share data only in the following limited situations:

• Service providers — we use third-party infrastructure providers (such as Supabase and Vercel ) to host databases and the website. They process data on our behalf and under our instructions.
• Research collaborators — anonymised or aggregated datasets may be shared with academic collaborators for non-commercial research, but these do not contain information that directly identifies individual users.
• Legal reasons — if required by applicable law, regulation, legal process, or enforceable governmental request.

How long we keep data

We retain submitted ratings and associated technical data for as long as necessary to support the research and analysis goals of the project, or as required by applicable rules. Where possible, we prefer to work with aggregated or anonymised data.

Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect stored data against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure or destruction. However, no system can be completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

How you can control your data

• Uninstall the extension — you can remove the Sentinel extension at any time from your browser's extensions page. This stops any further data collection from your device.
• Do not submit ratings — the extension only sends data when you actively choose to rate a page.
• Contact us — if you have questions about this policy, or if you believe your data has been collected in error, you can contact us at sentinelsite1@gmail.com. Where reasonably possible, we will work with you to address your concerns.

Use by minors

Sentinel is not specifically targeted at children and is intended for general audiences. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe that we may have collected personal data from a child, please contact us so that we can investigate and, where appropriate, delete the data.

Updates

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will change the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. If changes are significant, we may also communicate them through the website or extension.

Your continued use of the Sentinel extension or website after changes are posted means you accept the updated policy.

How to reach us

If you have any questions, concerns, or feedback about this Privacy Policy, you can contact:

• Email: sentinelsite1@gmail.com

This page is provided for transparency about how the Sentinel project handles data. It does not constitute legal advice. If you are unsure about your legal obligations, please seek independent legal guidance.