Privacy Policy - Live Caption Translate

Effective date: 2026-05-16

Live Caption Translate ("the extension") is a browser extension that generates real-time captions and translation for the audio of a browser tab the user selects. This document explains how the extension handles data.

The short version: the extension has no servers of its own, performs no analytics or tracking, and collects nothing. It only sends data to the services the user explicitly configures.

1. Data the extension handles

Data	Purpose	Where it is stored
API keys (Deepgram, OpenAI, optional local-server keys)	Authenticating with the service the user chooses	Locally, in the browser (`chrome.storage.local`)
Settings (provider choices, languages, model selection)	Remembering the user's preferences	Locally, in the browser (`chrome.storage.local`)
Capture state	Keeping a capture running across browser events	Locally, in the browser (`chrome.storage.session`)
Tab audio	Speech recognition	Processed transiently; not stored by the extension
Transcribed and translated text	Showing the caption overlay	Processed transiently; not stored by the extension

The extension does not collect names, emails, browsing history, analytics, or any personally identifying information, and it does not transmit anything to the developer.

2. Where data is sent

Audio and text leave the user's browser only to the provider the user has selected in the extension's options:

Speech-to-text
- Deepgram — when chosen, captured tab audio is streamed to api.deepgram.com for transcription.
- In-browser Whisper — runs entirely on the user's device; audio never leaves the browser. The model file is downloaded once from huggingface.co (this is model data, not user data).
- Local Whisper server — captured tab audio is sent to a server the user runs themselves (e.g. on localhost). It does not leave the user's machine/network.
Translation
- OpenAI — when chosen, transcribed text is sent to api.openai.com for translation.
- Local LLM — transcribed text is sent to a server the user runs themselves (e.g. on localhost).
- None — if no translation provider is configured, no text is sent anywhere; captions are shown in the original language only.

The extension contacts no other servers. The developer operates no backend and receives no data.

3. Local storage and your control

API keys and settings are stored locally with the browser's extension storage. They remain on the user's device. The user can remove all stored data at any time by:

clearing the fields on the options page and saving, or
removing the extension from the browser, which deletes its storage.

4. Third-party services

When the user chooses a cloud provider, that provider's own privacy policy governs the data sent to it:

Deepgram — https://deepgram.com/privacy
OpenAI — https://openai.com/policies/privacy-policy