Project Insight

How to Use:
Click the Toolbar Icon or go into the Settings page to open, Project Insight.

Features:
* See what permissions are granted for each extension.
* See what URLs the extension can connect to and intercept.
* A user-friendly explanation of what each permission can do when you click on it.

What are Permissions?
When you install any extensions from the extensions website, it will ask you to accept a list of permissions that that that extension is requesting. Extensions can only operate within the boundaries of those permissions. For example, if you give an extension the "Downloads" permission, it can download and save a file from the Internet on to your computer.

Well designed extensions should not request more permissions beyond what it absolutely needs to function. Poorly designed extensions request many permissions that it doesn't use.

What should I look out for?
Ideally, before installing an extension you should review its list of permissions and if it looks suspicious, you should not install it, and opt for another extension with fewer permissions.

If you already have many extensions installed, you can use, Project Insight, to review your current extensions and evaluate whether some extensions are too permissible and if there are other extensions on the extensions website that perform the same tasks with fewer permissions.

Why are fewer permissions better?
Predators prey on extensions with many permissions. It has happened before ( https://robertheaton.com/2018/07/02/stylish-browser-extension-steals-your-internet-history/ ). A company buys an existing extension off a developer for a handsome sum of money and then silently modifies the extension to track the user's browsing habits and send it to the company. Because that extension had many permissions to begin with, the extension inherently has many ways it can track the user. If the extension had minimal permissions, it would greatly limit its ability to track the user.