Google has updated its privacy policy regarding Chrome extensions following the recent revelation that there are extensions on the web store that have been stealing user data which gets sold without your consent. Google is setting new privacy standards for Chrome extensions regarding user data that will be enforced this October.
Google has been working to bring order to its web store from May by going after sketchy Chrome extensions that take advantage of permissions granted to abuse users data. Chrome requested the extensions to be configured in such a way that they ask for minimum permissions.
Google is taking user privacy seriously as theses protection measures are part of Project Strobe the tech giant launched in October last year to protect users on Google and Android.
Extensions to ask for the least amount of data
Google wants extensions to request the least amount of data from users. Extensions should ask for minimum permissions and that if they start asking for more unnecessary permissions, Chrome will automatically uninstall them.
Extensions to post their privacy policies
Google says that it will want extensions to post their privacy policies and that they must continue to be transparent in how they handle user data, disclosing the collection, use and sharing of that data.
Deadline
Google says that developers have up to 15th October 2019 to enforce these requirements. If extensions won’t have followed the rules, they will be removed from the web store.
It’s nice to see Google address the privacy concerns raised and it tries to kick off malicious extensions from the web store and protect user privacy .
