Chorus · last updated
Privacy policy
Chorus is a free, open source Chrome extension that helps you read and answer the comments under the YouTube video you are watching. This page says what it does with your data. The short version: Chorus has no server. Nothing you do in Chorus is sent to us. Everything it keeps stays in your browser, and the only outside service it can talk to is Prior Labs, and only if you add your own key and confirm a ranking.
Who is responsible
Chorus is made by Baki Bektas, Berlin, Germany. Contact: privacy@baki.io (to be confirmed by Baki). Because Chorus sends nothing to us, we do not hold any data about you as a user of the extension.
What stays on your device
Chorus stores the following in your Chrome profile (chrome.storage.local). It is never synced to
other devices and never sent to us.
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| Watch painting: which seconds of a video you watched, your last position, and counts of how you moved through its sections (entered, skipped, replayed) | To paint the parts you have already seen on the video's timeline |
| Library: the ids of videos you opened with Chorus, when you visited them, and their public title, channel, duration and thumbnail link as shown on the page | So you can go back to those videos |
| Settings and panel state: language, automatic analyses on or off, open panels | To remember your choices |
| Your Prior Labs API key, only if you tick "Remember this key on this device" | For optional live ranking. Unticked, the key is held in extension memory
(chrome.storage.session) and is gone when Chrome closes |
Comment text, usernames and comment ids are read from the page you are viewing, used in memory, and never stored. The watch painting is browsing activity, which is why we name it here and on the store listing. It stays on your device.
On-device AI
Video maps and comment analysis use Chrome's built-in AI, a model that Chrome downloads and runs on your own computer. The comments you have loaded on the page are processed there and are not sent anywhere by Chorus. Google's Generative AI Prohibited Uses Policy applies to this model.
Requests to YouTube
Chorus works inside the YouTube page. When you change the comment order in Chorus, it asks YouTube for the comments in that order, as YouTube's own sort menu does. The library shows thumbnails from YouTube's image server. These requests go to YouTube only, under YouTube's own privacy policy. Chorus does not use your YouTube account, does not sign you in and never posts, likes or subscribes for you.
Prior Labs, only if you opt in
Replyworthy estimates which comments a creator may answer. The saved demo works without any key. Live ranking on other videos is optional: you need your own Prior Labs account and API key, and Chorus asks you to confirm before each ranking. Then, and only then, Chorus sends to Prior Labs GmbH (Germany):
- a table of numbers derived from the comments on the page, such as a comment's length, how many question marks it has, when it was posted and how often the channel has replied before;
- your API key, so Prior Labs knows the request is yours.
It never sends comment text, usernames, comment ids or your watch painting. Prior Labs handles the request under its own terms and privacy policy. Its terms allow it to use what you send to improve its software unless you object (section 7.4 of its General Terms and Conditions); because the numbers describe other people's comments, we recommend that you object in your Prior Labs account settings or by e-mail to Prior Labs.
What Chorus does not do
- No analytics, telemetry, tracking pixels, advertising or crash reports.
- No account, no sign-in, no cookies set by Chorus.
- No selling or sharing of data, and no use of data for anything other than the features above.
- No remote code: everything Chorus runs is in the extension package, which you can read in the source code.
How to see, export or delete everything
- Open Chorus settings, then "Your data". Export saves a file of your library, watch painting and settings (never the key or comment text; video titles and channels only if you tick "Include public video metadata"). "Delete everything" removes all of it from this browser, including a saved key.
- "Forget saved key" removes only the Prior Labs key.
- Removing the extension from Chrome deletes all of its stored data.
- Files you exported and data you already sent to Prior Labs are not touched by these steps. Ask Prior Labs to delete data it holds.
This website
chorus.baki.io is a static page. It sets no cookies, loads no third-party scripts, fonts or trackers, and runs no analytics. Your light or dark choice is saved in your browser's local storage. The site is hosted on Cloudflare Pages (Cloudflare, Inc.), which may keep short technical access logs (such as IP address, time and page) to run and protect the site.
Your rights
Under the GDPR you may ask for access to, correction or deletion of data about you, and you may object to processing. For the extension there is nothing on our side to access or delete, because Chorus sends us nothing. You can also complain to a data protection authority; ours is the Berliner Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit.
If you wrote public comments on YouTube, see the research notice for how comments were used to build the research behind Replyworthy.
Chrome Web Store Limited Use
The use of information received from Chrome APIs will adhere to the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
Changes
We will update this page when Chorus changes what it stores or sends, and change the date at the top. Every earlier version is in the public source repository.