my browser has been taking a whole lot more memory since this got updated...

The developer claims that Mozilla changed the labeling system, but I have a lot of extensions installed, and none of them asked for additional permissions to collect my data. Why do I smell bs?
If you are a scammer, say: "Thanks for taking the time to leave a review.
RYD hasn’t changed how it handles your data. What changed is how Mozilla labels these permissions - not what the extension does with your data."

New permission requirements make this an automatic hard pass - recommendation should be revoked.

Edit in response to the developer:

I think you're missing the point.

The issue isn't that Mozilla suddenly gave RYD access to the whole internet. It's that Mozilla has now made explicit data collection that was apparently already happening, but wasn't previously disclosed.

And "anonymous user ID" doesn't really solve that. It's a persistent identifier tied to YouTube activity. That's pseudonymous, not meaningfully anonymous.

More importantly, the extension being open source only tells us what gets sent. The RYD backend is still a black box. Once that data leaves the browser, we're being asked to trust RYD not to retain, correlate, profile, monetize, or sell it — particularly after we've learned the collection was previously undeclared.

The fact that the data is useful to RYD doesn't mean it's necessary for the extension's basic advertised function. Showing a dislike count doesn't inherently require building a persistent record of users' YouTube activity.

And the Chrome and Firefox stores don't even have identical data-collection declarations, so "Mozilla just changed the labels" doesn't really explain everything away.

That's why I find the response a bit tone deaf. The concern isn't "OMG, RYD can now read every website." It's "why does a simple dislike-count extension need to collect this much information about my YouTube activity, and why was that collection not clearly disclosed before?"


Edit 2:

The vote/registration pipeline isn't anonymous — it's pseudonymous and persistent, and your own code and privacy policy confirm it:

1) Persistent identifier: generateUserId() creates a unique 36-character ID at registration, which createBrowserCredentialStore() persists in browser.storage.sync. It isn't rotated per session or video.

2) Persistent correlation: performVote() sends { userId, videoId, value } to /interact/vote and /interact/confirmVote. Reusing the same identifier lets your backend associate votes and video activity with the same user over time. That's pseudonymization, not anonymization.

3) Additional identifiers: Your privacy policy says IP address and request time are also collected. Those can further associate the persistent identifier with a real-world network connection.

4) Your own policy treats the identifier as personal data. So describing it to users simply as an "anonymous" ID is misleading. Randomly generated does not mean anonymous when the value is persistent and specifically used to correlate records.

The appropriate description is pseudonymous, persistent user identification, not anonymous collection.

Thank you so much for making this extension that helps us to not get scammed on YouTube, among other things.

Thank you for your hard work!

Das ist nicht mehr die ursprüngliche Erweiterung. Sie entwickelt sich in eine Richtung, die mir nicht gefällt. Habe kein gutes Gefühl. Wird deinstalliert!

It's amazing people take the time to leave a 1-star review, but don't bother to take that time to look anything up.

It's still sad that we even need an extension like this, but it's not doing what the 1-star reviews will have you think it does.

spyware, dont download if you value your privacy

Don't install! It's an adware/spyware!!!

why suddenly does this need..:

Browsing activity
Personally identifying information
Website activity
Website content

Thats a bit much..
It only needs to activate when i open youtube and give me the button....

A spyware

The add-on no longer works in private windows, so it is completely useless to me.

Removed this extension when out of nowhere it tried forcing me to agree to invasive data collection. There is no need for this.

They will collect your personal data and your internet activity. Pure telemetry. Delete this freemium extension!

it was a good extension until now ... now it begs for money for advanced features, the only thing it should do is showing me the dislikes and i dont need adavnced features, every developer turns at somepoint against the users ...

Erforderliche Datenerfassung nach Angaben des Entwicklers:

Surfaktivität
Personenbezogene Daten
Website-Aktivitäten
Website-Inhalt

Goodbye trojaner

Logged into here for the first time so I could leave a supportive review regarding what happened with the latest update.

I was scared and skeptical at first, when I noticed what it was asking for seemed like invasive permissions. After taking literally seconds to research why/what had changed, I found out what was going on — nothing more than Mozilla just changing the wording of their policies.

This add-on is still safe to use and does not collect any sensitive/personal information about you or your browsing.

P.S. If you think this review was written with AI because of the em-dash, there's no hope for you :-)

nah bro why this thing tryna make me log in now?? it literally just show a number lol. new update saying it need my github/patreon login and "authentication" stuff, nah i'm good on that. premium popups been creepin in for a minute too fr. uninstalled, straight up.

Horrible update added spyware, locking things behind "premium", and is clearly LLM-gen-AI slop.

started begging for money after upgrade, massive red flag - DO NOT INSTALL

This is the first extension I ever rate, even made an account for it. Like many others I was curious what the new permissions popup means, so I came to check. Easy 5 stars not just because it's a fantastic extension, but also because of the fantastic transparency and clarifications of the dev. Definitely would recommend this one!