Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Block Skip ("we", "us", "our") operates the Block Skip browser extension for Mozilla Firefox (the "Extension") and the website at blockskip.com (the "Website"). This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect through the Extension and the Website, how we use it, and the choices and rights you have.

If you have questions about this policy or about your data, contact us at support@blockskip.com.

2. Information We Collect

Extension reports (only with your Firefox data permission)

Firefox shows a "technical and interaction data" setting for the Extension. That setting is optional and is off unless you turn it on. When it is on, the Extension sends setup, campaign and search-status reports to api.blockskip.com. Those reports can include:

• Event type, Block Skip's fixed extension ID (the same for every installation), Extension name and version, and browser name and version.
• Whether Yahoo by Block Skip has been recorded as your default, and the name of your current default search engine. This record is written the first time the Extension sees Yahoo by Block Skip as your default -- during setup, or on a later start or check if you choose it afterwards. Once written it is not cleared if you switch to another engine; your current default is reported separately as its own value.
• Campaign details connected with the Extension, including affiliate, offer, source and bid codes when present.
• Technical Extension context attached to the event, such as the Extension type.

When the Firefox setting is off, these reports are not sent, are not queued, and are not sent later. Turning the setting off after it was on stops further reports.

Search terms

The Extension offers Yahoo by Block Skip as a search engine. When you search with it, Firefox sends your search straight to Yahoo. Your search terms never reach Block Skip, and the Extension does not read searches you make elsewhere.

Website cookies and attribution

The Extension uses attribution values from cookies set by blockskip.com and by landing pages we have approved in advance, to keep attribution information consistent between the Website and the Extension. It copies only the affiliate ID and subcodes (aff_id and aff_sub through aff_sub5), offer ID, URL ID and type (offer_id, offer_url_id, offer_type), source (source), and bid code (ebid_id). It discards anything else those cookies carry, along with anything it is handed from any other domain. The Extension keeps no session identifier of its own. It does not write cookies of its own, and it keeps its setup and attribution values in Firefox. This reading runs independently of the Firefox data permission described above. See Section 4 for details on cookies.

Information collected by the Website

When you visit the Website, our servers receive standard connection details such as your IP address, browser type, the page requested and the time of the request. A measurement script on the home, install-confirmation and uninstall pages records that those pages were viewed and whether the install button was used, so we can understand how people find and install the Extension.

If you use the contact form, we receive the name, email address and message you enter. The form is delivered by FormSubmit (see Section 8).

Browser permissions

The Extension asks Firefox for these permissions and uses them as follows:

• Access your data for all websites (host permission): required to block ad and tracker requests, to hide leftover ad containers, and to hide many common cookie consent banners and selected sign-in and anti-adblock prompts on the pages you visit. Where a supported consent banner has locked page scrolling, the Extension restores it. It does not accept or reject cookie choices for you, and it does not support every banner or prompt. Page content is processed locally in your browser and is not sent to us.
• tabs: to show the current site and page in the popup and to reload the page after an allowlist change.
• storage: to save your allowlists, auto-refresh and dark mode preferences in your browser.
• cookies: to read attribution cookies on blockskip.com and approved landing pages. The Extension writes none.
• search: to check whether Yahoo by Block Skip is your current default search engine.
• alarms: to schedule the recurring cookie and attribution check.
• declarativeNetRequest: to apply the network blocking rules that stop ad and tracker requests. Hiding leftover ad containers on a page is done by the Extension's own styles and scripts under the host permission above, not by this permission.
• scripting: to place the Extension's relay script on the Block Skip installation page, so that page can show whether setup finished. It is used for that page only, and not for ad blocking.

What we do not collect

We do not collect your name, postal address, payment information, passwords or the contents of the web pages you visit. The Extension does not send your browsing history to us. There are no accounts, subscriptions or paid features.

3. How We Use Your Information

• To operate the Extension and the Website, including delivering search results when you use Yahoo by Block Skip.
• To confirm that the Extension installed correctly and that its search engine setting is in the state you chose.
• To understand how people find and install the Extension (attribution), so we know which channels work.
• To answer messages you send us.
• To keep the Extension and Website secure and to detect misuse.

Legal basis (GDPR). Where the General Data Protection Regulation applies, we rely on your consent for the Extension reports (given through the Firefox data setting) and for non-essential Website cookies, and on our legitimate interest in operating, securing and improving the Extension and Website for the remaining processing described above.

4. Cookies and Tracking

The Website and the Extension use cookies on blockskip.com for these purposes:

• Attribution and session: to record how you arrived at the Website and to keep your session on the Website working. The Extension reads this cookie after installation and keeps only approved attribution fields in Firefox storage.
• Preferences: to remember your choice in the Website's cookie notice. That choice is stored in a cookie named consent for twelve months.
• Measurement: the measurement script described in Section 2 may set cookies on the pages where it runs.

Choosing Decline in the cookie notice records your preference. It does not remove cookies that were set before you made the choice. You can view, block or delete cookies for blockskip.com at any time in Firefox under Settings, then Privacy & Security. Blocking cookies does not affect ad blocking.

The attribution cookie is set by blockskip.com or by an approved landing page. The Extension asks Firefox only for cookies of that name on those approved domains; it does not look the cookie up across other sites. Firefox also notifies any extension holding the cookies permission when a cookie changes, and the Extension ignores those notifications unless they concern the blockskip.com cookie. From the cookies it does read it keeps only the attribution fields listed in Section 2. Today blockskip.com is the only approved landing domain. The Extension never writes a cookie of its own.

5. We Do Not Sell Your Personal Data

We do not sell, rent or trade personal information, and we have not done so in the preceding twelve months. We do not share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. This statement is made for the purposes of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act.

6. Data Retention

Extension reports and Website connection records are kept for as long as needed to serve the purposes in Section 3, then deleted or aggregated. Extension reports carry no install or session identifier, so they are not organised by installation in the first place. Contact form messages are kept for as long as needed to resolve your request. Preferences and allowlists stored in your browser stay there until you clear them or uninstall the Extension.

To ask about data associated with your use of the Extension, email support@blockskip.com. Because the Extension creates no install or session identifier, we generally cannot pick out the reports that came from one installation, and we may not be able to act on a request that depends on our doing so. Tell us what you can about how and when you installed, and we will explain what we are able to do. You can remove everything the Extension keeps on your device at any time by uninstalling it.

7. Your Rights

If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland

Under the GDPR and equivalent laws you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Rectification of inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Erasure of your personal data in the circumstances the law provides.
• Restriction of processing while a request is being handled or where processing is contested.
• Data portability: to receive data you provided in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format.
• Object to processing based on legitimate interest, and to withdraw consent at any time without affecting processing that took place before withdrawal.

To exercise any of these rights, contact support@blockskip.com. We are not required to appoint a Data Protection Officer; that address is our contact point for all data matters. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority.

If you are a California resident

Under the CCPA you have the right to:

• Know what categories of personal information we collect, the sources, the purposes, and the categories of third parties we share it with. Sections 2, 3 and 8 describe these.
• Delete personal information we have collected from you, subject to legal exceptions.
• Correct inaccurate personal information.
• Opt out of sale or sharing. This does not apply because we do not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined by the CCPA.
• Non-discrimination. We will not treat you differently for exercising any of these rights.

Submit a request by emailing support@blockskip.com. An authorized agent may submit a request on your behalf with written permission.

8. Third-Party Services

• Mozilla Add-ons (AMO). The Extension is distributed through addons.mozilla.org. Mozilla's handling of your account and download data is covered by the Mozilla Privacy Policy.
• Yahoo. Yahoo by Block Skip sends searches to Yahoo. Once you are on a Yahoo results page, Yahoo's Privacy Policy applies.
• YouTube. The Extension modifies how YouTube pages load in your browser. It does not send anything to YouTube on your behalf beyond the requests the page itself makes.
• FormSubmit. The Website's contact form is delivered by FormSubmit, which processes the form contents to send them to us. See the FormSubmit privacy policy.

We do not control these services and are not responsible for their practices.

9. Children's Privacy

The Extension and Website are not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we will change the effective date at the top of this page. Continued use of the Extension or Website after a change means you accept the updated policy. For significant changes we will do our best to give more prominent notice, such as a note on the Website.

11. Contact Us

Block Skip
support@blockskip.com
blockskip.com