Effective date and last updated: 2026-10-16. Applies to the Sheepdog Scam Alerts extension for Google Chrome as published in the Chrome Web Store.
Summary. Sheepdog reads the address and title of the web pages you open, and, only if you turn it on, the visible text of the page, so it can warn you about scam websites. If you ask it to, it also reads the list of your other installed extensions so it can warn you about risky ones. All of this is processed on your own computer. None of it is transmitted to the developer or to anyone else, none of it is sold or shared, and none of it is used for any purpose other than showing you those warnings. Sheepdog does nothing until you agree.
When Sheepdog is installed, it opens a page inside the extension that describes everything it reads, why, and where it goes, and asks you to agree. Until you choose Agree and turn on Sheepdog:
If you choose No thanks, keep it off, Sheepdog stays installed but inactive, and its toolbar icon shows OFF. You can withdraw consent at any time in settings. Withdrawing stops all activity, removes the optional extension-review permission, and deletes all data Sheepdog had stored except your own settings. If what Sheepdog reads ever changes, it asks for your consent again before doing anything new.
In this policy, "accesses" means the extension reads the data on your device. Sheepdog does not transmit any of the data below off your device, so the developer never receives it. The table lists every category of user data the extension handles.
| Data | Chrome Web Store category | When it is accessed |
|---|---|---|
| Address (URL) and title of the page in the active tab. Only the host name and protocol are used for scoring; the path and query string are discarded immediately. | Web history | Each time a page finishes loading, while "Assess the site in the active tab" is on (on by default after you consent). Skipped for domains on your blocklist. |
| Visible text of the page, limited to the first 20,000 characters of the main content area. | Website content | Only if you turn on "Also analyze visible page text". Off by default. |
| Information about your other installed extensions: name, description, extension ID, whether it is enabled, how it was installed, its update, homepage and options addresses, and its declared permissions. | None of the listed categories (extension metadata) | Only after you click to review your extensions and approve Chrome's separate permission prompt. While that permission is granted and the setting is on, the review re-runs on your computer every 12 hours. |
Sheepdog does not access: anything you type (passwords, payment card numbers, form contents, search queries, messages), cookies, browsing history stored by Chrome, bookmarks, downloads, location, contacts, health or financial information, or authentication information. Sheepdog has no accounts and does not ask for your name, email address or any other personal information.
Sheepdog does not collect analytics, telemetry, crash reports or usage statistics, and contains no advertising or third-party code.
Each kind of data is used for one purpose only, which is the extension's single purpose of warning you about scams:
This data is not used for advertising, personalization, profiling, building a browsing history, determining creditworthiness, lending, or any purpose unrelated to the warnings described above. No human, including the developer, ever reads it.
All storage is local, in Chrome's extension storage on your own computer. Sheepdog has no server and no database, and keeps no copy of your data anywhere else.
| Stored item | Contains user data? | Retention |
|---|---|---|
| Your settings, including any domains you add to the blocklist | Only what you enter | Until you change them or uninstall |
| Your consent choice, the version you agreed to, and the time | No | Until you change it or uninstall |
| Warnings shown to you, including the host name of a flagged site | Yes: the host name of a site that triggered a warning | Up to 6 hours, at most 30 at a time; deleted sooner if you dismiss them |
| List of recently checked host names, so the same site is not re-checked repeatedly | Yes: host names | Held in memory only, never written to disk; each entry expires after 10 minutes, at most 500 entries, and all are cleared when Chrome closes the background worker |
| Your most recent extension review result | Yes: extension metadata listed in section 2 | Replaced by the next review; deleted on withdrawal of consent or uninstall |
| Page text (optional feature) | Yes | Never stored. Held in memory only while it is scored |
| Cached public news feed, reference lists and headline details | No | Feed until the next refresh; lists up to 24 hours; headline details up to 1 hour, at most 60 |
Sheepdog does not keep a record of the pages you visit. Uninstalling the extension deletes everything listed above. Withdrawing consent deletes everything except your settings and your consent choice.
No one. Sheepdog does not sell, rent, transfer, share or disclose user data to the developer or to any third party, including advertisers, data brokers, analytics providers or information resellers. Because the user data described in section 2 never leaves your device, there is nothing to share, and no third party processes it on the developer's behalf.
The only party that can observe any request from Sheepdog is the company that hosts the public news files described in section 6 (GitHub, Inc., through GitHub Pages). As with any website, GitHub receives the internet (IP) address of the device making the download and records it in its own server logs under GitHub's privacy statement. Those requests contain no information about the pages you visit, your page text or your extensions. The developer does not receive, read or have access to those logs.
The developer would disclose information only if legally required to, and holds no user data that could be disclosed.
After you consent, Sheepdog makes only the following requests, all to the same public static host. None of them includes cookies, identifiers, or any information about the pages you visit or your installed extensions.
| Request | When | What it reveals about you |
|---|---|---|
feed.json: public scam and fraud news | Every 15 minutes, or the interval you set | Nothing beyond your IP address to the host. The same file for every user. |
lists.json: public regulatory reference lists | At most once a day | Nothing beyond your IP address to the host. The same file for every user. |
health.json: the feed's status | When you open the settings page or click to test the feed | Nothing beyond your IP address to the host. The same file for every user. |
items/<id>.json: detail for one news headline | Only when you click a headline | That a headline was opened, from your IP address. Not linked to any account; there are no accounts. |
You can verify this yourself: Sheepdog is open source, and its complete code is published at github.com/danlandeck/sheepdog.
| Permission | Why Sheepdog needs it |
|---|---|
tabs | To read the address and title of the page you open, so it can be checked for fraud. |
Access to sites (<all_urls> and a content script on web pages) | To show a warning on the page you are viewing, and, if you turn it on, to read the page's visible text for local analysis. Sheepdog uses this access only to read and display on the page in front of you; it does not use it to send data to any site. |
storage | To keep the items listed in section 4 on your computer. |
alarms | To refresh the public news file on a schedule and re-run the extension review. |
management (optional) | Requested only when you ask for an extension review, through Chrome's own prompt. Used only to read the information in section 2. You can remove it at any time. |
User data stays inside Chrome's extension storage on your own device, which is isolated from websites and other extensions. All network requests use HTTPS. Because no user data is transmitted or stored off your device, there is no server copy that could be breached.
The use of information received by Sheepdog adheres to the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Specifically, Sheepdog:
| You want to | Do this |
|---|---|
| Not turn it on at all | Choose "No thanks, keep it off" on the first page it shows you |
| Withdraw consent and delete stored data | Choose "Turn Sheepdog off and withdraw consent" in settings |
| Stop page-address checking | Turn off "Assess the site in the active tab" in settings |
| Stop page-text analysis | Turn off "Also analyze visible page text" (off by default) |
| Exclude a specific site | Add that domain to the blocklist in settings |
| Stop extension reviews | Turn off the extension review setting, or remove the permission in Chrome's extension settings |
| See what is stored | Open the Sheepdog popup for current warnings and your latest extension review; open settings for your settings and consent status |
| Delete everything | Uninstall the extension |
Because the developer holds no data about you, there is nothing to request access to or delete on the developer's side. You can still contact the developer with any privacy question.
Sheepdog is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect personal information from anyone, including children.
If Sheepdog's handling of user data changes, this policy will be updated before the change is released, the date at the top will be revised, and, for any change to what the extension reads or where data goes, the extension will ask for your consent again before the new behavior takes effect.
Publisher: Daniel Landeck
Email: dan.landeck@gmail.com
Sheepdog™ © 2026 Daniel Landeck. Open source under the Apache License 2.0.