Privacy policy: Accessibility Screen Reader
Accessibility Screen Reader helps people read web pages and check how accessible they are. It reads pages aloud, offers reading aids (colour overlay, dyslexia-friendly text, text size boost, reading ruler, stop moving content), looks up word definitions and scans pages for accessibility issues.
In short: I do not collect, store or see any of your information. The only things that ever leave your computer are the words you look up in the dictionary and, if you choose a Google voice, the text being read aloud.
Information I collect
None. The extension has no account, no sign-in, no analytics, no tracking and no advertising. It does not send anything to me, and I have no server that receives data from it.
Words you look up in the dictionary
When you look up a word, either by typing it into the Dictionary or by double-clicking a word on a page, the extension sends that word to Wiktionary, run by the Wikimedia Foundation, to fetch its definition. Only the word is sent, over a secure (HTTPS) connection. Like any website, Wikimedia also receives standard connection details such as your IP address and browser type. Wikimedia's handling of this is covered by the Wikimedia Foundation privacy policy.
You can turn double-click definitions off at any time with the Double-click switch in the Dictionary section.
Reading aloud
Speech is produced by the voices already in Chrome and your computer. Most voices, such as the Microsoft voices on Windows, work entirely on your computer. If you choose a Google voice (for example "Google UK English Female"), Chrome sends the text being read aloud to Google to produce the speech, under the Google privacy policy. Choose a voice that is not a Google voice if you do not want this.
Web pages you visit
To read pages aloud, highlight text, apply reading aids, scan for accessibility issues, check colour contrast and calculate readability scores, the extension reads the content of the page you are on. All of this happens on your computer. Page content, addresses and browsing history are never saved or sent anywhere, apart from the dictionary words and Google voice speech described above.
Information stored on your computer
The extension saves the following in Chrome's own extension storage so it remembers your choices:
- Screen reader settings (on or off, voice, speed, pitch and announcement options). These use Chrome's sync storage, so if you have Chrome Sync turned on, Chrome may copy them to your other devices through your Google account.
- Reading aid settings, your saved setups and the extension's on and off switches, stored on this computer only.
- Up to 50 recent dictionary answers, stored on this computer only so repeat lookups are instant.
I cannot see any of this. You can delete it all by removing the extension from Chrome.
Sharing and selling
I do not sell, rent, share or transfer any user data, and I do not use any data for advertising, profiling, credit checks or anything unrelated to the extension's features.
Permissions the extension uses
- Text-to-speech (tts): to read pages and definitions aloud.
- Storage: to remember your settings, saved setups and recent dictionary answers.
- Access to the websites you visit: so the screen reader, reading aids, double-click definitions and accessibility scan work on any page you choose to use them on.
Changes to this policy
If the extension's handling of data changes, I will update this page and the date at the top.
Contact
Questions about this policy: skullbirddev@gmail.com