Data & Security

What this extension can see, and what it does with it

Chrome displays broad permission warnings when installing extensions. Here is our plain-language disclosure of what we collect, what leaves your machine, and what is never touched.

The Short Version

Our Four Privacy Commitments

1. German News Reader only extracts text from pages when you actively open the side panel and press Play.
2. We never log or record your browsing history, bookmarks, open tabs, cookies, or entered form data.
3. Article text is transmitted directly to DeepL via secure TLS encryption solely to generate translations and audio.
4. We do not sell data to advertisers, use third-party analytics trackers, or monetize your attention.

Chrome Manifest

Every browser permission explained

Chrome uses standard permission terminology that sounds alarming. Here is what each one means in practice.

Permission	What Chrome States	What We Actually Use It For	What It Is Never Used For
`sidePanel`	Open a side panel in the browser	Display the bilingual reading interface alongside the webpage without closing on tab click.	Accessing private browsing data or system files.
`activeTab`	Read and change data on all websites you visit	Read article text on the active tab and apply sentence-highlighting styles when you press Play.	Reading tabs in the background, logging URL history, or capturing user inputs.
`storage`	Store data on your computer	Save your Language Master login token and UI preferences (font size, audio speed).	Storing tracking cookies or syncing cross-device profiling.
`scripting`	Execute scripts on webpages	Inject the scroll-tracking and sentence-highlighting listener into the active news article.	Injecting advertising scripts, crypto miners, or tracking pixels.

Data Flow

What leaves your browser when you press Play

✓

What is transmitted

Only the extracted German text paragraphs of the article you are actively reading are sent to the DeepL API endpoint over HTTPS to produce English translations and phonetic timestamps.

✗

What is never transmitted

URLs of other open tabs, browsing history, form passwords, personal cookies, IP location databases, or background browsing telemetry. Inactive tabs are never touched.

🔒

DeepL confidentiality

Our integration utilizes DeepL SE Enterprise endpoints where text is processed in-memory and not stored or utilized to train translation models.

Data Retention

What is stored and for how long

Account Identity

Your email address and active subscription tier are stored in our authentication database to verify your access pass. Retained for the duration of your active account plus 30 days following cancellation.

Usage Quotas

Monthly character and audio minute counts are maintained to manage DeepL API quota thresholds. Quota metrics reset on your monthly billing anniversary date.

Server Error Logs

Anonymized technical diagnostics (HTTP response codes, response latency) are retained for 14 days solely for infrastructure stability and bug fixes.

Your Rights

GDPR compliance & data deletion

Under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and international privacy frameworks, you retain complete ownership of your personal data:

✓Right to Access: Request a complete export of your stored profile and billing records.

✓Right to Erasure: Request permanent deletion of your account and associated tokens.

✓Right to Rectification: Update your billing email and subscription preferences immediately.

To exercise any of these rights, email our Data Protection Officer at privacy@languagemaster.org. Requests are processed within 48 business hours.

Formal Document

German News Reader Privacy Policy

Version 1.0 · Last updated: August 2026

1. Scope and Controller

This Privacy Policy describes how Language Master ("we", "us", or "our") processes data in connection with the German News Reader extension for Google Chrome. Language Master operates as the data controller for account information and the data processor for in-session translation requests.

2. Data Processed During Reading Sessions

When you click Play in the German News Reader side panel, the extension reads the text elements inside the active tab's article container. This text is sent to our proxy server over TLS 1.3 encryption and relayed to DeepL SE (Cologne, Germany) to generate contextual translations and synthesized German and English audio.

3. Third-Party Sub-processors

We work with the following sub-processors:

DeepL SE: Translation and text processing. DeepL processes queries in ISO 27001 certified data centers in the European Union.
Stripe / PayPal: Payment processing and subscription tokenization. Financial payment details are handled directly by PCI-DSS Level 1 certified processors.

4. Local Browser Storage

The extension stores user authentication tokens, theme configurations, and playback speed preferences locally in the browser's chrome.storage.sync area. This data is not accessible to third-party websites.

5. Changes to this Policy

If we update extension permissions or sub-processors, we will notify subscribers via email and update the changelog before publishing revised extension builds to the Chrome Web Store.