Backpack Capture Privacy Policy

Effective September 18, 2026 · Applies to versions 0.7.x and later

Backpack Capture is a Chrome extension, separate from schoolz's own website, that reads the Google Classroom and Genesis Parent Portal pages a parent already has open, so they can see what's due without hand-copying it. This page describes, plainly, what that involves - what's read, what's kept, and the specific actions that can move any of it off the device.

In short

• Nothing is captured until you press Start capture (or turn on the optional scheduled walk), and only on Classroom or Genesis pages - Chrome enforces this, the extension's code never loads anywhere else.
• It never logs in, and never reads passwords or cookies. It only reads the rendered page a person is already signed into.
• Everything stays on your device in the browser's local extension storage, until you export a file or choose to publish.
• Only you decide what leaves the device: exporting a local file, publishing to your own schoolz account, or - only if you turn it on - a scheduled walk that publishes there on its own.
• No analytics, no telemetry, no advertising, no third-party trackers - anywhere in this extension.

What it reads

Backpack Capture is restricted, at the browser level, to two kinds of page: classroom.google.com and any Genesis Parent Portal page matching */genesis/parents*. On every other site, Chrome never loads the extension's code - it cannot see, read, or record any other page you visit.

When capture is switched on and you open one of those pages, it reads the page's own rendered content: the same text and structure already visible on your screen, in the session you're already signed into. It strips out scripts, styles, images, and generated class names, keeping only the semantic content - assignment titles, due dates, class names, schedule blocks - reduced to a compact text form.

Nothing is captured before you press Start capture (or a scheduled walk you turned on runs), and a badge stays visible on the toolbar icon for as long as capture is active.

What it stores

Each captured page is saved as one record, held only in the browser's own local extension storage:

None of this is transmitted anywhere by default - it sits in chrome.storage.local, readable only by this extension, on this device.

What it never touches

• Passwords, or any part of a login form
• Cookies, session tokens, or localStorage belonging to Classroom or Genesis
• Any website other than the two listed above
• Anything before you explicitly start a capture session, press Capture, or turn on the scheduled walk

The extension's declared permissions reflect this directly: it has no cookies or webRequest permission, and no access to any host beyond Classroom, Genesis, and (only for the optional features below) schoolz's own API. Its alarms permission exists only for the scheduled walk.

What can leave your device - and only this

Only these send anything anywhere, and each is something a person chose:

1. Export capture - writes everything currently stored to a single JSON file, saved wherever you choose on your own device. This is a local file save; nothing is transmitted to a server.
2. Publish captures - sends the same stored records to your own schoolz family account (see below). Off until you log in, and only runs when you press Publish.
3. Scheduled walk - off by default. If you turn it on, every four hours (never between 10pm and 6am) it opens Classroom in its own window, walks your child's classes the same way a capture session does, and publishes what's new to the student you picked. It never signs in to Google: when that sign-in expires it stops and tells schoolz, which notifies you. Turning it off stops it completely.

Apart from a scheduled walk you turned on, there is no background sync or upload, and there is no telemetry of any kind.

Publishing to schoolz

Backpack Capture can optionally send your captures to your own schoolz family account so they appear in your child's due/missing/done view, instead of (or alongside) exporting a file by hand.

Logging in works one of two ways, both handled by schoolz's own authentication system:

• Email and password - sent directly to schoolz's sign-in service; the extension never stores your password, only the session token that comes back.
• Continue with Google - uses Chrome's own built-in sign-in flow (chrome.identity); Google credentials are never seen by, or available to, this extension.

Once logged in, pressing Publish captures sends every capture currently stored to the student you select on your own schoolz account. What happens to that data once it's in schoolz is covered by schoolz's own privacy policy.

Logging out clears the stored session from the extension only - it does not delete anything already published, and does not close your schoolz account.

Children's data

This extension is built for parents and guardians to use on their own device, reading their own or their child's school-portal pages that they are already signed into. It does not collect information directly from children, does not present any interface to a child, and does not knowingly interact with anyone under 13 as a user of the extension itself.

Because the pages it reads can include a student's assignments, grades, and schedule, treat any exported file or published data the same way you'd treat a report card or a school folder - it belongs to your family, and you decide who else sees it.

Retention & deletion

• Captures stay in local storage until you delete them individually, press Clear all, or uninstall the extension - any of which removes them completely from this device.
• An exported file exists only where you saved it; deleting it is the same as deleting any other file you own.
• Data already published to schoolz is retained under schoolz's own policy, independent of this extension.
• Uninstalling Backpack Capture deletes all locally stored captures and any saved schoolz login.

Changes to this policy

If what this extension reads, stores, or sends ever changes, this page will be updated to match, and the effective date above will change with it. The extension's source is public, so any change in behavior is checkable directly against the code, not just this description of it.

Contact

Backpack Capture is an open-source project. Questions, concerns, or reports about this policy can be sent to enr@profitnaut.com, or filed as an issue on its repository: github.com/weirdaze/backpack-capture.

Backpack Capture reads Google Classroom and Genesis Parent Portal pages locally in your browser. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or a product of Google, Genesis, or any school district.