PrivacyCheck

PrivacyCheck is a data mining tool that analyzes the text of privacy policies.
What is PrivacyCheck?
PrivacyCheck is a Chrome extension designed to distill the complex language of online privacy policies into an understandable format. Using powerful data mining algorithms, it offers an 'at-a-glance' summary of how a company uses personal data. It helps users monitor changes in privacy policies, track policy trends over time, compare policies between competitors, and understand General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance. It's an efficient tool for internet users to stay informed and protect their personal information.

Extension stats

Users: 937 ▼ -4
Rating: 3.93 (15)
Version: 3.0.1 (Last updated: 2021-05-17)
Creation date: 2020-05-23
Risk impact: Very low risk impact
Risk likelihood: Very low risk likelihood
Manifest version: 2
Permissions:
  • activeTab
Size: 1.42M
URLs: Website

Other platforms

PrivacySpy (v2.0.1)
4.82 (11) 149
Not available on Edge
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Extension summary

PrivacyCheck automatically summarizes online privacy policies and provides consumers an overview of the ways in which companies use their personal data in a graphical, ‘at-a-glance’ format.

PrivacyCheck v3 adds the ability to (1) find the competitors of an organization with Alexa traffic analysis and compare policies across them, (2) follow privacy policies the user has agreed to and notify the user when policies change, (3) track policies over time and report how often policies change and their trends, (4) automatically find privacy policies in domains, and (5) provide a bird's-eye view of privacy policies the user has agreed to.

Version 2 provided faster results, an assessment of the privacy policy with respect to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), new interface, and top 3 competitors with better privacy policies in the same market sector.

A U.S. Department of Justice report issued July 2014 estimated that roughly 7% American households reported some type of identity theft in the previous year. What do consumers need to know in order to protect themselves and their families from identity theft? Information is key. The more we know about how companies use our personal information, the better prepared we are when deciding whether or not to divulge it. PrivacyCheck is a valuable resource that consumers can use to get an overview of the essential attributes of a company’s online privacy policy in way that is quick and easy to understand.

Federal and state laws require businesses to publicly post a privacy policy stating how they use customers’ Personally Identifiable Information (PII). Additionally, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has successfully prosecuted companies for deceptive and misleading practices when using consumers’ data in ways contrary to what is stated in their privacy policy. As a result, most companies’ privacy policies are easily accessible online. The problem is that many people do not have time to read these lengthy and sometimes technical documents.

PrivacyCheck is a browser add-on intended to provide consumers an overview of the ways in which companies use their personal data in a graphical, ‘at-a-glance’ format. Similar, currently available resources fall short of this goal due to their lack of comprehensive web coverage. For example, TRUSTe and P3P are sign-up services that require a business to enroll in order to participate, and multiple crowd-sourced efforts only provide information for websites that have been manually checked.

PrivacyCheck surpasses existing add-ons, apps, and certifications by using a Machine Learning algorithm to access the text of any webpage. The user provides the URL for the company’s privacy policy and PrivacyCheck searches the page, returning icons that indicate the level of risk for several types of PII.

Copyright © 2021 The University of Texas at Austin, Center for Identity, All Rights Reserved.

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User reviews

These summaries are automatically generated weekly using AI based on recent user reviews. Chrome Web Store does not verify user reviews, so some user reviews may be inaccurate, spammy, or outdated.
Pros
  • Fills a real need for understanding privacy policies without needing to read them in detail.
  • Works as intended for some users.
  • User-friendly and self-explanatory interface.
Cons
  • Often fails to function, especially on big-name sites.
  • Not updated or supported, leading to issues fetching data.
  • Does not run in the background when navigating away from privacy policy pages.
Most mentioned
  • Stopped functioning and appears unsupported.
  • Messages about not recognizing privacy policy pages.
  • Takes a while to process and does not run in the background.
Recent reviews
Just installed, doesn't work at all. Can't read policies on big name sites like Whatsapp, Signal, Facebook or apparently any other site. Uninstalling it.
by Dan Ross, 2023-04-08

Only one star because it's stopped functioning... It was good while it worked, but is apparently unsupported, and has stopped working. I tried reinstalling, but to no avail - when I try to run it, I get this message: "PrivacyCheck™ ran into a problem fetching data from the database or scraping the privacy policy from the website. Some websites include certain HTML features that makes it difficult to extract data. The PrivacyCheck™ team is working to improve this functionality. We apologize for the inconvenience." Apparently they've stopped updating... it happens. Too bad, because when it worked, it was quite useful.
by Benny Rowe, 2023-02-08

It does take a while and I wish it would run in the background when you navigate away from the privacy policy page. It stops running even when you switch tabs. Otherwise, I like it.
by E Dickens, 2018-12-13
View all user reviews

Extension safety

Risk impact

PrivacyCheck does not require any sensitive permissions.

Risk likelihood

PrivacyCheck has earned a good reputation and can be trusted.

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