Job Guardian: privacy

Job Guardian is the JobTangent browser extension that warns about job scams and ghost jobs and keeps a private evidence locker. It works when you click it.

What it reads

• When you click the toolbar button, the "Scan this conversation" menu item or the keyboard shortcut: the address of the current tab and, for a scan, the text you selected or the open conversation on that tab. Chrome grants this access for that one tab only (activeTab).
• Screenshots of the visible part of the tab, only when you choose "Save screenshot".
• Optional automatic checks, off by default: if you turn them on and pick job sites, the extension reads the address of pages you open on those sites, and the page text when a page is flagged. It never does this on LinkedIn.
• Optional LinkedIn button, off by default, shown with a warning: adds a "Scan this conversation" button to LinkedIn messaging. It reads nothing until you press it.

What leaves your browser

• Lookup keys: short identifiers worked out on your device, such as a company's web domain, a hashed email address, a LinkedIn profile or company name, or a hashed page address. They are sent to JobTangent to look up reports. Conversation text is not sent for a lookup.
• Evidence you submit: after you review it, with phone numbers, email addresses and long numbers hidden automatically and any areas you black out. In the optional automatic mode on job sites you picked, the redacted page text can be submitted without asking, if you turn that on.

What is stored, and where

• On your device: captures waiting for your decision, encrypted with a key that never leaves the browser, deleted after 7 days. Your settings and JobTangent token.
• On JobTangent: submitted evidence, encrypted, with its SHA-256 fingerprint and a tamper-evident custody log. It is private: only you can open it. Investigators see it only if you mark it "Report to investigators" (in the extension or in Settings → Job Guardian), and then only a redacted copy, with your name replaced by a label such as "Reporter A". Opening the original needs a written reason that is logged. It may also be reviewed for abuse handling or if required by law. LinkedIn captures are never published.
• Shared verdicts store counts (for example "reported by 3 users"), not your identity or your evidence.
• You can delete any evidence item in Settings → Job Guardian, except while it is on hold for an open dispute. Revoking the token disconnects the extension.

Investigators and public pages

• Investigators are invited volunteers or staff who sign an agreement, work under a pseudonymous handle, declare conflicts of interest, and lose access when their grant expires. Every view and action is recorded in a hash-chained audit log that is anchored daily with public timestamps.
• An open dispute puts related evidence on hold (it cannot be deleted until the dispute closes). A hold does not give investigators access to evidence you did not report.
• Public company and recruiter pages show public-record checks and aggregate counts only ("x of n"), and only above minimum sample sizes. They never show who reported, applied or was contacted. Recruiters are shown under a code, not a name.
• Decisions investigators make (with the facts behind them, not your evidence) are kept to measure and improve the automated checks.

Limited Use

The use of information received from the extension adheres to the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Data is used only to provide the scam-warning and evidence features described here. It is not sold, not used for advertising, not used to determine credit-worthiness or for lending, and not transferred to third parties except as needed to run the service (hosting and storage providers), for security, or to comply with the law.