Privacy Policy for RateMy Slugs
Last updated: August 2025
What This Extension Does
RateMy Slugs is a browser extension that displays Rate My Professors ratings directly on UCSC’s MyUCSC enrollment pages to help students make informed course enrollment decisions.
We collect NO personal information. Specifically:
- ❌ No personal data is collected, stored, or transmitted to external servers
- ❌ No browsing history is tracked outside of UCSC enrollment pages
- ❌ No user accounts, login information, or authentication data
- ❌ No cookies are set or read by the extension
- ❌ No analytics, tracking, or usage telemetry
The extension only accesses:
- Public course information already visible on MyUCSC enrollment pages (instructor names, course codes, sections)
- Public professor ratings from Rate My Professors website via their public GraphQL API
- This information is processed locally in your browser and is not sent to any servers controlled by this extension
Local Data Storage
For performance optimization, the extension temporarily stores:
- Cached professor ratings in your browser’s local storage for up to 30 days
- Course-instructor mapping data to avoid redundant API calls
- This data is stored locally on your device only and is automatically expired/refreshed
- No personal information is included in this cached data
- You can clear this cache at any time through browser storage management
How It Works
- Detects when you visit UCSC enrollment pages (MyUCSC or PISA)
- Extracts instructor names from publicly visible course listings
- Queries Rate My Professors’ public API for matching professor ratings
- Displays rating information inline within the existing page layout
- Caches results temporarily to improve performance on subsequent visits
Third-Party Services
The extension connects to:
- Rate My Professors - to fetch public professor ratings via their public GraphQL API
- UCSC MyUCSC/PISA Systems - to read publicly displayed course and instructor information
- No personal information is sent to any third-party service
- All API requests use publicly available endpoints that don’t require authentication
Data Sharing
- No data is shared with any third parties beyond the necessary API calls to Rate My Professors
- No analytics are collected or transmitted about your usage patterns
- No tracking occurs across different websites or browsing sessions
- The extension operates entirely within UCSC enrollment pages and Rate My Professors API
Security
- All data processing occurs locally in your browser
- No server-side components or external databases are maintained by this extension
- The extension uses secure HTTPS connections for all API communications
- No sensitive information (passwords, personal details, etc.) is accessed or processed
Changes to This Policy
- Any changes to this privacy policy will be reflected in updated versions of the extension
- Users will be notified of significant privacy-related changes through the Chrome Web Store
- The “Last updated” date at the top of this policy indicates when changes were made
Your Rights
You can:
- Disable the extension at any time through Chrome’s extension management
- Clear cached data by removing the extension or clearing browser storage
- View stored data using Chrome Developer Tools (Application > Storage > Local Storage)
- This extension is not affiliated with UC Santa Cruz or Rate My Professors
- For questions about this privacy policy or extension functionality, create an issue on the project’s GitHub repository
- For broader privacy concerns, consult Chrome’s extension privacy documentation
Compliance
This extension:
- Adheres to Chrome Web Store privacy requirements
- Follows Google’s extension privacy guidelines
- Implements data minimization principles (collecting only necessary information)
- Provides transparent disclosure of all data access and usage
Privacy by Design: This extension is built with privacy as a core principle - it simply enhances publicly available information without collecting, tracking, or storing any personal data about its users.