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Savvid for Firefox, version 3.1.2 and later
Savvid for Firefox: privacy addendum
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This addendum describes Savvid for Firefox, version 3.1.2 and later. The Savvid privacy policy at https://savvid.net/privacy/ applies to Savvid for Firefox, including its section Savvid for Firefox, except where this addendum says otherwise. This addendum adds the one feature that only Savvid for Firefox has, YouTube downloads. Savvid for Chrome has no part of it: the Chrome package contains no YouTube code at all.
The policy says that Savvid for Chrome does not detect or download YouTube media, and that Savvid for Firefox downloads YouTube videos as its one extra feature. In Savvid for Firefox, what the policy says of Savvid for Chrome stays true of its network detection of videos: it never lists or requests a video or playlist it saw on the network at a YouTube or googlevideo.com address. YouTube downloads are the one exception, and this addendum describes everything they read and send.
Summary
- On a YouTube video page (
/watch?v=onyoutube.com) in a tab that is not private, Savvid for Firefox asks YouTube for the list of playable formats of that video and shows it in the popup. It asks from the page, the way YouTube's own web player does, and also as some of YouTube's own apps (such as its Apple Vision Pro, Android VR and iPhone apps), because those are answered with formats that can be downloaded. - When YouTube's own player on the page shows a proof-of-origin token in its requests, Savvid for Firefox sends the same token with its requests. It never produces one itself.
- The formats you choose are downloaded from YouTube's servers through the page, combined into one file on your computer and saved by Firefox's download manager.
- At most once a day, and only when it reads a YouTube video, Savvid for Firefox downloads a short list of YouTube app names from savvid.net, so that the list can change without a new version. Nothing about you, your browsing or the video is sent with it.
- Nothing is sent to Savvid's developers. Live streams and protected (DRM) video are never offered.
What Savvid for Firefox reads and sends for YouTube downloads
| What | Why | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
Requests to YouTube's player API (youtubei/v1/player) for the video on the page, sent from the page as YouTube's web player and as some of YouTube's apps, and the watch page's own data, including its HLS manifest address | to list the playable formats of the video that is on the page | YouTube only |
| Of the answers, only: the formats' addresses, codecs, picture sizes and bitrates, and the video's title, length, thumbnail and whether it is live | to show the list of qualities in the popup and to name the file | Stays on your computer |
Your YouTube visitor ID: the VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE cookie, or the x-goog-visitor-id value the page sends | YouTube requires it with the requests above | YouTube only, as the page itself sends it |
The proof-of-origin token, when the player's own requests to YouTube's media servers carry one (their pot value) | sent with Savvid's requests for the same video, as the player sends it | YouTube only |
| The address of a tab when Firefox reports a change of it | to know which video the tab shows | Stays on your computer |
The YouTube app list at https://savvid.net/youtube/rules.json | to know which YouTube apps to ask as, updated without a new version | A plain download with no cookies, no referrer and no data about you or the video. Like any website, savvid.net's host (Cloudflare) sees your IP address and browser |
The requests Savvid sends from the page carry the page's YouTube cookies, as the page's own requests do; Savvid does not read them, apart from the visitor ID above. Savvid does not read the page's text, your account, your watch or search history or the comments. It does not watch, record or copy what the player plays, and it does not change anything the page sends or receives. Its own code on a YouTube video page, a content script that makes the requests above and a function that reads the list of formats, runs in the separate space Firefox gives add-ons (the isolated world): it adds nothing to the page's own scripts, and the page's scripts cannot reach it. Requests for the formats themselves go to the addresses YouTube's own answers name, as its player would.
When it reads them
Only while a tab that is not private shows a YouTube video page. In a private window the feature does nothing at all, even when you allow Savvid to run in private windows. When the tab leaves the video page or shows another video, the list it read is dropped, like every other page's list. The YouTube app list is downloaded only when Savvid reads a YouTube video, at most once a day.
What it never does
- No live streams, no premieres, no protected (DRM) video: none of them is offered in the popup.
- No recording, no screen or sound capture, no reading of the video or sound the player receives.
- No requests to YouTube except the ones above and the downloads you start.
- No YouTube code in the Chrome package: the feature is a Firefox-only module that the Firefox build adds after the Chrome package is assembled, so the Chrome Web Store package cannot list, download or read anything on YouTube.