Privacy policy

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Privacy policy

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Studify is a browser extension that blocks social media while you study. To do that it keeps some data on a server. Here is what it keeps, why, for how long and how you delete it.

In short:

1Who is responsible

The person responsible for Studify’s data is João Almeida. For any question about this policy or about your data, write to 2175524@student.uma.pt.

Studify is made by one person, as coursework for the Persuasive Computing module. The extension works in Chromium browsers (Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera) and in Firefox. The server and the database run on Cloudflare (Workers and D1).

2An account without email

When you install the extension, the server creates an account with a random identifier. We don’t ask for your email, name or password, and the identifier is never your account on another service.

To move to another computer or browser, you get a recovery code. Keep it safe: it’s the only way back to the same account.

3What we keep and why

Each piece of data has a basis. What the service needs is kept so the extension works; the rest only with your consent.

Data kept on the server:
Data Basis What for
Account, devices, plan (including the place you write down), list of sites, preferences, sessions and statistics Needed for the service Syncing between devices and applying the rules on the server.
Nickname, presence on the leaderboard and in the count of who has studied today Consent 1 Without it, the account works the same and stays invisible to others.
Blocking events (domain in plain text, time to decide, decision) and use of the sessions in the analysis Consent 2 The study. Withdrawing consent deletes the blocking events and takes your sessions out of the analysis.

In each session

  • The day, the time zone and the time it starts and ends.
  • The planned minutes, whether it was extended, and the actual minutes.
  • The device and where it started: the window that opens from the Studify icon, the side panel, the dashboard, a notification or the block screen.
  • That day’s focus window and the study and break times, if you use pomodoro.
  • Whether it was completed or abandoned and why it ended, the points, the day of the streak and the test group.
  • Whether it was done offline and when it reached the server.

When a site on your list is blocked

Only with consent 2:

  • The site’s domain (for example, instagram.com) and the time.
  • Whether it was during a session, a break or the focus window, and which session it belongs to.
  • The points that were at stake and the line about the streak that the screen showed, in the language it was shown in.
  • The decision you made and how long you took to decide.
  • The test group you were in that week and when the record reached the server.

The test of the two versions

The block screen has two versions of its text, one in positive language and one in negative language, which swap every week for everyone. We keep which version you were in. Only people who gave consent 2 are included in the analysis.

All records

They carry the date and time, the account’s random identifier and the test group.

4What we never keep

  • The full address of pages. Only the domain, for example instagram.com.
  • Domains that aren’t on your block list, or the rest of your browsing.
  • Email, name or password.

Why the domain is kept in plain text. Encoding the domain with a fixed rule wouldn’t hide it: it could be worked out by comparing it with a list of sites, and it would only give a false sense of anonymity. The real protection is never recording the rest of your browsing, and the domain is only recorded when the block is triggered.

5The two consents

They are separate and optional. If you refuse both, you can still use the extension.

  • Consent 1: appear on the leaderboard and in the count of who has studied today, with a nickname you choose.
  • Consent 2: share data for the study: the blocking and detour records and the inclusion of your sessions in the analysis.

You can change either one in the extension’s settings. Each change is recorded, with the date, as proof of consent.

6Who sees your data

  • Other users, only with consent 1: your nickname and the days you studied on the leaderboard, and your account in the counts of who has studied today (for example, “9 of 12 have already studied today”).
  • The researcher, in a dashboard with protected access: only someone using the authorised email can get in. The study’s analysis only uses data from people who gave consent 2, always as totals, and a domain only appears when it was blocked for at least 5 people. The dashboard also counts how many accounts were created, how many were active in the last 7 days and how many people gave each consent.
  • The researcher, in the account view, which is for handling requests (for example, deleting an account when asked by email, section 9). It shows one account at a time, with or without consent 2: the nickname, the test group, the time zone, the sign-up and activity dates, the consents and their history, the devices (the browser and when they were last seen), the plan, the sessions, the days studied, the points, the streak, the badges, the Sunday summaries and, if you gave consent 2, the blocking events. It doesn’t show the recovery code or the other codes: the server only keeps their fingerprint (section 12).
  • Cloudflare, where the server and the database run.

7What stays on your computer

The extension keeps in the browser the account identifier and this device’s key, a copy of the latest state from the server, the session in progress and the events that haven’t reached the server yet (for example, when you’re offline).

When a site is blocked, the address you tried to open stays only on your device and is used only so you can leave the block screen. It isn’t sent to the server.

The extension’s language (Portuguese, English or the browser’s) is a preference that stays only in this browser. It isn’t sent to the server and doesn’t carry over to your other devices.

8For how long

  • Your data is kept until you delete it, in the extension or on request by email.
  • Accounts with no activity for 12 months are deleted automatically.
  • Devices you disconnect from the account are deleted 30 days later.
  • The record of the researcher’s actions (section 9) is deleted automatically after 12 months.

9Export and delete

In the extension’s settings you can, at any time, export all your data to a JSON file and delete everything. Deleting removes the account and all the data linked to it.

In the same settings you can see the devices linked to the account, disconnect any of them and generate a new recovery code (the old one stops working).

Asking by email

You can also write to 2175524@student.uma.pt to ask us to delete the account, send you your data in the same JSON file, withdraw a consent or disconnect your devices. Any request about the account must include the recovery code: as we don’t have your email, it’s the only proof that the account is yours, and without it we don’t act on the request. The nickname can help us find the account, but it never counts as proof. The address you write from doesn’t go into the database.

In the dashboard, the researcher can delete the account and all its data (the same as deleting in the extension), export your data, withdraw consent 1 or 2 (with the same effect as in the extension), remove the nickname and disconnect all devices (you get back in with the recovery code). Removing a nickname from the leaderboard is the only one of these actions they take on their own initiative, to moderate nicknames; the others only at your request, with the code. They can’t change your study data or give consent for you.

Each of these actions is recorded, and so is each attempt without the right code, marked as refused: when, the researcher’s email, what was done, the account’s random identifier and a short note about the request or the reason. If the account is deleted, the record keeps only that identifier, with nothing linked to it. Consent changes made this way also go into the consent history, marked as made by the researcher.

10When you uninstall

When you uninstall, the browser opens the page /en/goodbye with two buttons: “Delete everything” and “Keep for reinstalling”. If you keep it, or close the page, the account stays saved as described in section 8.

The address of that page carries a code that can only delete the account. It goes in the part of the address after the #, which the browser doesn’t send to the server, so it isn’t in the request logs.

A risk you should know about: the address stays in your browser history. Anyone with access to that history can use it to delete your data. They can’t use it to see it.

11Minimum age

Studify is for people aged 13 or older. You confirm your age when you first sign up.

12How we protect the account

Each device’s key, the recovery code and the uninstall code are long random numbers. The server keeps only a fingerprint of each one (SHA-256), never the original value.

13Contact

Questions, requests or complaints about your data: 2175524@student.uma.pt.