privacy

This is for extensions that are specifically designed to manage and enhance user privacy.

Examples:

• A "privacy hardening" extension that disables features that might send data to Google or other third parties (like network prediction or translation).
• A corporate extension that enforces specific privacy settings across a fleet of browsers.

This permission triggers a warning on installation.

{
  "name": "My Privacy Manager",
  "version": "1.0",
  "manifest_version": 3,
  "permissions": [
    "privacy"
  ]
}

Why is it risky?

This permission gives an extension control over important browser settings related to your privacy and security. For example, it can turn on or off features like:

• Safe Browsing: Protects you from malicious websites.
• Network Prediction: Speeds up browsing but may send data to Google.
• Spell Check and Translation: Can send what you type to servers.

A legitimate privacy extension might use this to make your settings more secure. However, a malicious extension could disable your security features, like Safe Browsing, leaving you vulnerable to phishing sites and malware.

This example checks if network prediction is enabled and, if so, disables it.

// background.js or options.js

async function disableNetworkPrediction() {
  try {
    // Get the current setting
    const currentSetting = await new Promise((resolve) => {
      chrome.privacy.network.networkPredictionEnabled.get({}, resolve);
    });

    if (currentSetting.value) {
      console.log('Network prediction is enabled. Disabling it now.');
      // Set the new value
      await new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
        chrome.privacy.network.networkPredictionEnabled.set({ value: false }, () => {
          chrome.runtime.lastError ? reject(chrome.runtime.lastError) : resolve();
        });
      });
      console.log('Network prediction has been disabled.');
    } else {
      console.log('Network prediction is already disabled.');
    }
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Failed to change privacy setting:', error);
  }
}

disableNetworkPrediction();