Privacy policy
SafeYT collects nothing about you
SafeYT is a Chrome extension that decides which YouTube videos can play on a school Chromebook. It has no server, no accounts and no analytics. What little it keeps stays in the browser on that device.
Version 1.0, 16 October 2026. This page applies to the SafeYT extension from the Chrome Web Store and to the self-hosted build. It is a plain-language summary of the SafeYT data statement, which lists every stored item and every network request in detail. If this page and the code ever disagree, the code is what runs, and the page is a bug we will fix.
The short version
- SafeYT does not collect, sell, share or transfer any personal or sensitive user data.
- Nothing SafeYT records is ever sent to the people who make SafeYT. There is no SafeYT server to send it to: no telemetry, no crash reports, no update ping of its own.
- It never reads your name, email or Google account, your keystrokes, your searches, your location, your camera, microphone or screen, or any site other than YouTube.
- SafeYT is not used for advertising, credit decisions or anything other than deciding which videos play.
What stays on the Chromebook
All of this is in the browser's own extension storage on the device. It is never uploaded.
| Item | What it is, and how long it lasts |
|---|---|
| Block log | The last 50 blocked videos or channels: time, video ID, rule, reason, channel name, title and YouTube category. Older entries drop off as new ones arrive. The student can see the last 10 in the SafeYT popup. |
| Daily counters | Videos allowed and blocked today, and free-choice minutes used. Reset at midnight. |
| School policy | The channel lists and settings the school chose. Replaced whenever the school changes it. |
| Video and channel cache | Public YouTube details (title, channel, category, keywords) of videos and channels already checked, so they are not fetched twice. Held in memory for 6 hours per video and 24 hours per channel, and cleared when the browser closes. |
The block log and cache do show which videos were opened on that device, which is exactly why they never leave it. On Chromebooks that erase the profile at sign-out (ephemeral mode), they last for one sign-in at most.
The only network requests SafeYT makes
- To YouTube, to check a video or channel the student opens: a normal request for that video's watch page or that channel's videos page, the same kind of request the browser is already making. This is how SafeYT reads the video's public title, channel and category.
- To the school's own policy file, only if the school set one: a plain request for the file every 15 minutes, with no cookies, identifiers or student data.
- A one-line check to youtube.com when the self-hosted build starts, to see whether its stream-URL lockdown is allowed. It carries a random number and no cookies. The Chrome Web Store build does not make it.
Like any web request, these reveal the device's IP address and browser version to the receiving server. Chrome itself checks for extension updates at the Chrome Web Store; that is Chrome's behaviour for every extension, not a SafeYT request.
Why it asks for the permissions it does
SafeYT can read and change pages only on YouTube's own addresses (youtube.com, youtube-nocookie.com, youtubekids.com), so it can cover blocked videos and hide blocked recommendations. It blocks YouTube's video servers (googlevideo.com) for a tab until the video in it has been checked, using Chrome's built-in rule engine, which does not let SafeYT read that traffic. All of SafeYT's code ships inside the extension; it never downloads or runs code from anywhere else.
Seeing and deleting your data
A student or parent can see everything SafeYT keeps by clicking the SafeYT icon ("What SafeYT does on this device"). Every block screen says which rule applied and why. Because the data lives only on a school-managed Chromebook, the school controls it: removing the extension or signing out of an ephemeral device deletes it. The SafeYT developers hold no data about anyone, so there is nothing for us to look up, correct or delete.
Students and children
SafeYT is made for schools and is installed by a school's IT team. Because it collects no personal information, it collects none from children. Schools that need contract terms can use the privacy exhibit and, in New York, the Ed Law 2-d package.
Changes and contact
If what SafeYT stores or sends ever changes, this page and the data statement change in the same release, with a new version and date, recorded in the public repository history.
Questions about this policy: [email protected]. Questions about a student's data on a school Chromebook go to the school, which manages the device.