Privacy Policy for Self Hosted Search Engine
Published by Moat Crossing Systems, LLC

Effective Date: July 16th, 2025

Moat Crossing Systems, LLC (“we,” “our,” or “us”) values your privacy. This
Privacy Policy describes how the Self Hosted Search Engine browser extension
handles your data and protects your personal information.

1. Overview

The Self Hosted Search Engine extension is designed to help users index and
search their own browsing history by saving visited web pages to a
self-hosted server under their full control. We do not collect, transmit,
or store any personal data on external servers. All data remains local or
is transmitted only to the user’s configured self-hosted instance.

1. What Data Is Accessed and Why

The extension requires the following permissions in order to function:

tabs & activeTab: Used to detect which pages you visit, retrieve page
titles and URLs, and optionally display an in-page control bar for
managing indexing behavior (e.g., pause, upload).

webRequest (with <all_urls>): Used to monitor network
traffic—specifically to detect and retrieve YouTube caption files that
are loaded via background requests. This ensures that captions can be
indexed alongside video pages, if the user opts in.

storage: Used to save local settings such as:

Your self-hosted server address

API access keys

Domain blacklist/whitelist preferences

Extension state (e.g., ON/OFF, indexing mode)

host permissions (<all_urls>): Required for the extension’s content
scripts to access and index content on pages you visit, based on your
configured preferences.


1. What Data Is Stored or Transmitted
   
   Stored Locally: Configuration settings and state information are stored
   locally in your browser using Chrome’s storage API.
   
   Transmitted: The extension sends page metadata (title, URL, and
   optionally page content, YouTube captions, and social media posts) only
   to the self-hosted server you configure. This server is not operated or
   accessible by Moat Crossing Systems, LLC.

We do not receive or collect any data from your browser or your server.
There is no analytics, telemetry, or tracking code in this extension.

1. User Control and Data Deletion

Users retain full control over:

Which sites are indexed (via the blacklist/whitelist)

Whether indexing is automatic or manual

What data is stored or deleted on their own server


Users can delete any saved data at any time via the extension popup or the
server's web interface.

1. Third-Party Services

This extension does not use any third-party analytics, advertising, or
tracking services. It does not interact with or send data to any
cloud-based infrastructure or external API beyond the user’s configured
server.

1. Security Measures

All communication with the user’s server is made via HTTPS. During setup,
users may use self-signed certificates or upload their own trusted
certificates to secure the connection. The extension does not store
passwords or authentication tokens beyond what is needed to access the
user’s configured backend.

1. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted at this location and take effect immediately upon posting.

1. Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or how your data is handled, please
submit an issue on the github page at https://github.com/aflin/Self_Hosted_Search_Engine/issues