Thanks for asking about the data RYD uses.

The extension is actually recommended by Mozilla, so they do not consider it harmful or dangerous.

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.

The extension only uses the data it needs to show dislikes and count votes.

Its site permissions cover YouTube and its own API at returnyoutubedislikeapi.com. RYD doesn’t read other websites, and these site permissions cannot be used to access them.

Here’s what those permissions mean:

Personally identifiable information - RYD’s randomly generated, anonymous user ID, used to count votes. This isn’t your Google or YouTube account.

Browsing activity - opening the next YouTube video, so the extension can send its video ID and fetch the new dislike count.

Website content - things like the visible like count, which helps calculate dislike estimates.

Website activity - clicking Like or Dislike.

Again, this is about YouTube activity. The extension isn’t watching everything you do across the internet - it simply can’t do that with these site permissions.

The new labels can sound scary, but they don’t give the extension access to more websites.

RYD is open source, so you can see how it works: https://github.com/Anarios/return-youtube-dislike

Thanks for sharing your concerns.

The extension is actually recommended by Mozilla, so they do not consider it harmful or dangerous.

RYD hasn’t changed how it handles your data. What changed is Mozilla’s wording for these permissions - not what the extension does with your data.

The extension uses only the data needed to show dislikes and count votes.

Its site permissions cover YouTube and its own API at returnyoutubedislikeapi.com. RYD doesn’t read other websites, and these site permissions cannot be used to access them.

Here’s what those permission labels mean:

Personally identifiable information - RYD’s randomly generated, anonymous user ID, used to count votes. This isn’t your Google or YouTube account.

Browsing activity - opening the next YouTube video, so the extension can send its video ID and fetch the new dislike count.

Website content - things like the visible like count, which helps calculate dislike estimates.

Website activity - clicking Like or Dislike.

Again, this refers to activity on YouTube. The extension isn’t watching everything you do across the internet - it simply can’t do that with these site permissions.

The new labels may sound scary, but they don’t let the extension access more websites.

RYD is open source, so you can see how it works: https://github.com/Anarios/return-youtube-dislike

Thanks for the kind words - glad you’re enjoying the extension!

RYD hasn’t changed how it handles your data. Mozilla changed the way it labels these permissions - what the extension does with your data is the same.

The extension only uses the data needed to show dislikes and count votes.

Its site permissions cover YouTube and its own API at returnyoutubedislikeapi.com. RYD doesn’t read other websites, and these site permissions cannot be used to access them.

Here’s what those permissions mean:

Personally identifiable information - RYD’s randomly generated, anonymous user ID, used to count votes. This isn’t your Google or YouTube account.

Browsing activity - opening the next YouTube video, so the extension can send its video ID and fetch the new dislike count.

Website content - things like the visible like count, which helps calculate dislike estimates.

Website activity - clicking Like or Dislike.

Again, this is about YouTube activity. The extension isn’t watching everything you do across the internet - it simply can’t do that with these site permissions.

The new labels sound scary, but they don’t allow the extension to access more websites.

RYD is open source, so you can see how it works: https://github.com/Anarios/return-youtube-dislike

> There's a pointless premium panel taking up space

You can close the panel with one click on the x in the top right corner. It also shows raw dislike counts to free users, which was a requested feature.

> I installed this extension for fun, it doesn't add anything to my experience and is not crucial enough for me to get spammed by ADS by one extension out of all others I use.

That's fair - it's up to you whether the extension is useful enough for you to keep using or support.

Being free to use doesn't make it free to run. I still have server costs to cover, and the paid features help cover those costs. Supporting it is entirely your choice, but I do need a way to keep it running.

Thanks for taking the time to look into the permissions, and for your support.

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.

The extension only uses the data it needs to show dislikes and count votes.

Its site permissions cover YouTube and its own API at returnyoutubedislikeapi.com. RYD doesn’t read other websites, and these site permissions cannot be used to access them.

Here’s what those permissions mean:

Personally identifiable information - RYD’s randomly generated, anonymous user ID, used to count votes. This isn’t your Google or YouTube account.

Browsing activity - opening the next YouTube video, so the extension can send its video ID and fetch the new dislike count.

Website content - things like the visible like count, which helps calculate dislike estimates.

Website activity - clicking Like or Dislike.

Again, this is about YouTube activity. The extension isn’t watching everything you do across the internet - it simply can’t do that with these site permissions.

The new labels can sound scary, but they don’t give the extension access to more websites.

RYD is open source, so you can see how it works: https://github.com/Anarios/return-youtube-dislike

Unfortunatelly hosting ~12TB database with a load of ~20 million unique daily users costs some money. Donations died down and the extension would run out of money to function.

Existence of a new premium feature doesn't affect you in any way - you can still use it for free as you did before - and somebody else will pay to cover your costs. Isn't it a win-win?

EDIT/REPLY to EDIT/REPLY:
> EDIT/REPLY:Do what other developer's do and have a 1 time popup upon install that says "consider donating to keep it alive!" And leave it at that.

That is pretty much what it is. It's a one time changelog on update install. But I wanted to give something back for donations.

Closing that changelog (that only appears on browser restart, so the least intrusive time I hoped - as all extension changelogs do) is just one click

> Do what other developer's do
This extension likely has the largest database and traffic load of all extensions in the store. I.e. the highest costs to run

> There are other extensions that do the same thing

They all use my API. So if this extension dies - they all die too. This was one update message over 5 years of existence of the extension. Due to costs starting to exceed donations.

Unfortunatelly hosting ~12TB database with a load of ~20 million unique daily users costs some money. Donations died down and the extension would run out of money to function.

Existence of a new premium feature doesn't affect you in any way - you can still use it for free as you did before - and somebody else will pay to cover your costs. Isn't it a win-win?

The extension only collects a randomly generated user id, and your vote with a like\dislike. That is literally everything that is being sent - bare minimum for it to function. Nothing is being sold.

If even the random user id is too much for you - there is an option to disable vote submission in settings. Then extension collects nothing (but your dislikes don't count anymore - so it's up to you)

The extension only collects a randomly generated user id, and your vote with a like\dislike. That is literally everything that is being sent - bare minimum for it to function. Nothing is being sold.

If even the random user id is too much for you - there is an option to disable vote submission in settings. Then extension collects nothing (but your dislikes don't count anymore - so it's up to you)

> The developer is replying aggressively

Sorry if that came across as aggressive, I was doing my best to be polite - like honestly, no sarcasm here. English isn't my first language.

I was rude in some earlier messages - but there I was quite direct about being rude, no pretending.

"Sorry the message about new features bothered you.", - this isn't about the permissions - this is about the message with the list of new features. Some of which are paid - to pay for the extension servers. It is ***NOT ABOUT SELLING YOUR DATA.***

The extension only collects a randomly generated user id, and your vote with a like\dislike. That is literally everything that is being sent - bare minimum for it to function. Nothing is being sold.

Unfortunately even a random ID for recording likes\dislikes is still "personal data".

If even the random user id is too much for you - there is an option to disable vote submission in settings. Then extension collects nothing (but your dislikes don't count anymore - so it's up to you)

The extension only collects a randomly generated user id, and your vote with a like\dislike. That is literally everything that is being sent - bare minimum for it to function. Nothing is being sold.

Unfortunately even a random ID for recording likes\dislikes is still "personal data".

If even the random user id is too much for you - there is an option to disable vote submission in settings. Then extension collects nothing (but your dislikes don't count anymore - so it's up to you)

The premium features are there to cover costs for everyone. Servers for this kind of load take some money.

Sorry the message about new features bothered you.

It's shown once in lifetime on update install, I wouldn't call this "popups" - since its a single changelog message. Plural here is just misrepresentation.

It’s shown only once during the lifetime of the extension, and it’s timed to appear after a browser restart - hopefully the least disruptive moment.

Handling YouTube-scale traffic and storing dozens of terabytes of like/dislike data on a school-lunch budget ain’t that easy. The funding from these features is what keeps RYD’s servers running.

And as for the permissions:


The extension is actually recommended by Mozilla, so they do not consider it harmful or dangerous.

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.

The extension only uses the data it needs to show dislikes and count votes.

Its site permissions cover YouTube and its own API at returnyoutubedislikeapi.com. RYD doesn’t read other websites, and these site permissions cannot be used to access them.

Here’s what those permissions mean:

Personally identifiable information - RYD’s randomly generated, anonymous user ID, used to count votes. This isn’t your Google or YouTube account.

Browsing activity - opening the next YouTube video, so the extension can send its video ID and fetch the new dislike count.

Website content - things like the visible like count, which helps calculate dislike estimates.

Website activity - clicking Like or Dislike.

Again, this is about YouTube activity. The extension isn’t watching everything you do across the internet - it simply can’t do that with these site permissions.

The new labels sound scary, but they don’t give the extension access to more websites.

RYD is open source, so you can see how it works: https://github.com/Anarios/return-youtube-dislike

It is a bit unfair to call it "mislead", after all what they state is factual. It is just not very clear, and looks scarier than what is actually happening.

They just should be aware that an average user will spend 5-10 seconds maximum looking at that notice - and after that the user will delete the extension and leave a 1 star review. Which is somewhat unfair.

Thanks for taking your time to dig into the issue.

Thanks for the lovely feedback.

RYD hasn’t changed how it handles your data. What changed is the way Mozilla labels these permissions - not what the extension does with your data.

The extension uses only the data needed to show dislikes and count votes.

Its site permissions cover YouTube and its own API at returnyoutubedislikeapi.com. RYD doesn’t read other websites, and these site permissions cannot be used to access them.

Here’s what those permissions mean:

Personally identifiable information - RYD’s randomly generated, anonymous user ID, used to count votes. This isn’t your Google or YouTube account.

Browsing activity - opening the next YouTube video, so the extension can send its video ID and fetch the new dislike count.

Website content - things like the visible like count, which helps calculate dislike estimates.

Website activity - clicking Like or Dislike.

Again, this is about YouTube activity. The extension isn’t watching everything you do across the internet - it simply can’t do that with these site permissions.

The new labels may sound scary, but they don’t let the extension access more websites.

RYD is open source, so you can see how it works: https://github.com/Anarios/return-youtube-dislike

Thanks for sharing your experience and for the kind words.

RYD hasn’t changed how it handles your data. What changed is how Mozilla labels these permissions - not how the extension uses your data.

The extension only uses the data it needs to show dislikes and count votes.

Its site permissions cover YouTube and its own API at returnyoutubedislikeapi.com. RYD doesn’t read other websites, and these site permissions cannot be used to access them.

Here’s what those permission labels mean:

Personally identifiable information - RYD’s randomly generated, anonymous user ID, used to count votes. This isn’t your Google or YouTube account.

Browsing activity - opening the next YouTube video, so the extension can send its video ID and fetch the new dislike count.

Website content - things like the visible like count, which helps calculate dislike estimates.

Website activity - clicking Like or Dislike.

Again, this refers to YouTube activity. The extension isn’t watching everything you do across the internet - it simply can’t do that with these site permissions.

The new labels can sound scary, but they don’t give the extension access to any more websites.

RYD is open source, so you can see how it works: https://github.com/Anarios/return-youtube-dislike

Thanks for your support and for taking the time to write this.

RYD hasn’t changed how it handles your data. What changed is Mozilla’s wording for these permissions - not what the extension does with your data.

The extension uses only the data it needs to show dislikes and count votes.

Its site permissions cover YouTube and its own API at returnyoutubedislikeapi.com. RYD doesn’t read other websites, and these site permissions cannot be used to access them.

Here’s what those permissions mean:

Personally identifiable information - RYD’s randomly generated, anonymous user ID, used to count votes. This isn’t your Google or YouTube account.

Browsing activity - opening the next YouTube video, so the extension can send its video ID and fetch the new dislike count.

Website content - things like the visible like count, which helps calculate dislike estimates.

Website activity - clicking Like or Dislike.

Again, this is about activity on YouTube. The extension isn’t watching everything you do across the internet - it simply can’t do that with these site permissions.

The new labels may sound scary, but they don’t give the extension access to more websites.

RYD is open source, so you can see how it works: https://github.com/Anarios/return-youtube-dislike

Thanks for the kind words.

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.

The extension uses only the data it needs to show dislikes and count votes.

Its site permissions cover YouTube and its own API at returnyoutubedislikeapi.com. RYD doesn’t read other websites, and these site permissions cannot be used to access them.

Here’s what those permissions mean:

Personally identifiable information - RYD’s randomly generated, anonymous user ID, used to count votes. This isn’t your Google or YouTube account.

Browsing activity - opening the next YouTube video, so the extension can send its video ID and fetch the new dislike count.

Website content - things like the visible like count, which helps calculate dislike estimates.

Website activity - clicking Like or Dislike.

Again, this is about YouTube activity. The extension isn’t watching everything you do across the internet - it simply can’t do that with these site permissions.

The new labels can sound scary, but they don’t give the extension access to more websites.

RYD is open source, so you can see how it works: https://github.com/Anarios/return-youtube-dislike

Thanks for taking the time to share this.

RYD hasn’t changed how it handles your data. Mozilla changed how it labels these permissions - what the extension does with your data is the same.

The extension only uses the data needed to show dislikes and count votes.

Its site permissions cover YouTube and its own API at returnyoutubedislikeapi.com. RYD doesn’t read other websites, and these site permissions cannot be used to access them.

Here’s what those permission labels mean:

Personally identifiable information - RYD’s randomly generated, anonymous user ID, used to count votes. This isn’t your Google or YouTube account.

Browsing activity - opening the next YouTube video, so the extension can send its video ID and fetch the new dislike count.

Website content - things like the visible like count, which helps calculate dislike estimates.

Website activity - clicking Like or Dislike.

Again, this refers to activity on YouTube. The extension isn’t watching everything you do across the internet - it simply can’t do that with these site permissions.

The new labels sound scary, but they don’t allow the extension to access more websites.

RYD is open source, so you can see how it works: https://github.com/Anarios/return-youtube-dislike