Browser extension permissions explained

The RuneManga extension asks for a small set of permissions and for access to a site only when you switch it on there. It has no always-on access to the pages you browse. This guide explains each permission as the extension is currently built, so you can decide whether you are comfortable with it.

Nothing runs until you ask

There is no script that runs on every page, and the extension reads nothing on a site until you switch it on there. Then it adds its code to that tab only, and reads the manga pages on screen and the ones that scroll into view, nothing else. Close the tab or move to another site and the approval for that tab is dropped.

The permissions, one by one

• activeTab: lets the extension work on the tab you just used it on, for a short time. It is what makes a single click enough.
• scripting: lets the extension add its code to that tab after you ask. Without it, the extension could not show a translated page over the original.
• storage: keeps your settings in your browser profile, such as the languages and the sites you turned on.
• declarativeNetRequestWithHostAccess: lets the extension add the site's own address as the referrer when it fetches an image, which some image hosts require. It only acts on sites you allowed, and the rule is removed right after the request.
• Optional access to all sites: the manifest lists every site as the upper limit, but nothing is granted at install. The browser is asked for one site and its image hosts at a time, and only when you switch the extension on there.
• Access to the RuneManga API: the extension talks to the RuneManga service to translate images. It is the only RuneManga server involved, and the only place your images go.

Per-site access

The extension does not ask for access to every website at install. When you switch it on for a site, the browser asks for two things: that site, and the address or addresses its page images are served from, which is often a separate image server. Only then can the extension read the images. If you say no, nothing happens and the site stays untouched.

That access stays until you remove it, in your browser's extension management page: open RuneManga's details and change its site access.

What it sends

• The manga pages on screen and the ones that scroll into view, to the RuneManga API, each under a neutral file name.
• Your choice of mode and languages.
• Not the address of the page, not the image's own file name, not your browsing history and not your cookies.

The page address is used for one thing only: it is sent to the image's own server as the referrer, like your browser would, so that the image loads. Images are fetched without your cookies, so a site cannot use the extension to read content that is only visible when you are signed in.

Firefox data collection notice

Firefox asks add-ons to declare what they transmit. RuneManga declares website content, because the images you translate are sent to our servers. It declares nothing about browsing activity, because no history or address is sent, and nothing about analytics, because there is none.

Taking it back

1. Turn Auto off in a page's bar, or the site's switch in the popup, to stop translating it.
2. Open your browser's extension management page, then RuneManga's details, and change its site access to take the permission back.
3. Or remove the extension from your browser, which removes everything with it.

What it cannot see

• Sites you have not switched it on for.
• Your passwords and forms. Its code looks for page images and does not read forms or password fields.
• Pages in other tabs.

Questions

• Translate manga while you read in your browser
• Manga translator browser extension: how it works
• Is RuneManga safe? What happens to your pages
• Privacy