Why octotree need browsing history permission?

[nduyhai]

Description

Why octotree need browsing history permission?

[BearD01001]

same question!

[buunguyen]

Aw, Chrome... We need the "tabs" and "webNavigation" permissions to support GitHub Enterprise. For some reason, Chrome shows that message for these permissions even though we don't use the chrome.history API or access the browsing history at all.

This is the policy for Octotree with regarding user data:

NO BS POLICY: Octotree doesn't collect/share/care about your data at all. GitHub access tokens are required only when you access private repositories or exceed GitHub API rate limit. Octotree stores access tokens in your browser local storage and uses them only to authenticate with GitHub.

I'll see if there's a way to request those 2 permissions dynamically so that those who don't use GitHub Enterprise don't have to accept them. Meanwhile, if anyone still has concern, please feel free to build Octotree from source. The open-source, community version doesn't support GitHub Enterprise and thus, doesn't request the "tabs" and "webNavigation" permissions.

[buunguyen]

Fixed in 4.0.1, now those permissions are optional. Please update. Thanks for reporting.

[aniforprez]

Yeah the request is still happening for 4.0.1. I've enabled it for now but you'll have to excuse me if I don't take your word about not collecting history at face value. If possible I hope you find a way to remove that permission because I know you mean well

[buunguyen]

Hmm, weird. Those 2 permissions are optional. I already tested, Chrome doesn't ask for that history permission anymore. Can you delete the extension and re-install it?

but you'll have to excuse me if I don't take your word about not collecting history at face value

No problem. If an extension I use certainly asks for permission to view "browsing history", I'll freak out.

[buunguyen]

Screenshot when adding 4.0.1 on Chrome:

[aniforprez]

Yes uninstalling and reinstalling fixed it. Thanks!

[azrafe7]

Yes uninstalling and reinstalling fixed it. Thanks!

Yep, that worked.
It would have been better if Chrome detected the 4.0.1 permissions changes and handled it transparently (without the need of un/re-installing the extension), but it's fine I guess. 😉

[MHM5000]

I think every open-source browser extension needs to clarify it's permissions in its first pages. Both the website and README.

And since these extensions are open-source, If chrome and firefox added an MD5/SHA-1 build authenticity check, we would always be ensured that the final code on the extension marketplace is the same as what we have in the repo. I don't know why we don't have this already, but this is something that we really need in today's browsers. TRUST!

[buunguyen]

Done. Clarified permissions in README. Thanks for the suggestion.

[MHM5000]

Happy to help.

[sportshead]

Direct link to why Chrome shows "Read browsing history"