Privacy Policy

Last Updated: August 15, 2026 • UNESCO Global MIL Youth Hackathon Edition

1. Core Privacy Commitment

VeriLens is an open-access educational media literacy tool developed for the UNESCO Global MIL Youth Hackathon. We believe that privacy is a fundamental human right. VeriLens is engineered with a privacy-first, client-side architecture. We do not track your browsing habits, do not sell user data, and do not profile users.

2. What Data We Process & How It Is Used

Website Content (In-Memory Processing): When you view an article or highlight a sentence and select "⚡ SIFT & Verify with VeriLens", the text is analyzed in temporary browser memory. Client-side heuristic matching runs 100% locally on your machine.
AI Deep Scan (Gemini API): If you click "Run Gemini AI Deep Scan", the selected article excerpt is transmitted via HTTPS directly to Google's official Gemini Generative Language API endpoint. No personally identifiable information (PII) is attached to this request.
Local Storage (chrome.storage.local): Your streak counts, mastered fallacy badges, sensitivity preferences, and custom Gemini API keys are saved exclusively in your browser's isolated local storage. They are never uploaded to any central server.

3. Data Sharing & Third Parties

We strictly do NOT sell, rent, monetize, or disclose your personal data or browsing history to data brokers, advertisers, or third-party marketing networks.

4. User Controls & Data Deletion

You have full control over your data. You can clear your local Cognitive Gym streaks and saved preferences at any time by opening the extension Settings (⚙️) and clicking "Reset Cognitive Gym Stats", or by uninstalling the extension.

5. Contact & Open Source Verification

VeriLens is an open-source educational project. All source code is publicly inspectable and verifiable on our GitHub repository. For inquiries, reach out through our official UNESCO Hackathon submission portal.