Data Collection Practices

Transparency Report | Last Updated: January 2026

This document provides a comprehensive breakdown of every piece of data qwip collects, why we collect it, and how long we keep it.

Anonymous Session Analytics
24-Hour Rotating API Keys (v2.0)
Image Hash Database (Optional)
Aggregated Daily Metrics
What We DON'T Collect
Data Lifecycle & Retention
Your Control
Compliance Summary

1. Anonymous Session Analytics

Purpose: Track platform usage for product improvement and investor metrics (DAU/MAU).

User Control: Cannot disable (required for basic analytics), but fully anonymous.

What We Collect

Data Point	Technical Description	Example Value	Why We Collect
Session ID	Cryptographically random UUID v4	`a3f2b1c4-5d6e-7f8g-9h0i-1j2k3l4m5n6o`	Count unique users without identifying them
Images Analyzed (Count)	Integer counter	`47`	Measure platform usage and engagement
Model Preference	String (model name)	`"cifake"` or `"genimage"`	Optimize default model selection
Last Seen	Timestamp (UTC)	`2025-12-28T10:30:00Z`	Calculate DAU/WAU/MAU metrics

Example Database Entry

json

{
  "session_id": "a3f2b1c4-5d6e-7f8g-9h0i-1j2k3l4m5n6o",
  "first_seen": "2025-12-20T14:22:00Z",
  "last_seen": "2025-12-28T10:30:00Z",
  "total_images_analyzed": 47,
  "preferred_model": "cifake"
}

What This Data CANNOT Tell Us

❌ Who you are - Session ID is random, not linked to any identity
❌ What images you analyzed - No image data, URLs, or content
❌ Where you browsed - No website URLs or domains
❌ Your location - No IP addresses stored
❌ Your device - No fingerprinting or hardware info

How Session ID Is Generated

javascript

// Extension code: server-api.js
const sessionId = crypto.randomUUID();
// Example output: "a3f2b1c4-5d6e-7f8g-9h0i-1j2k3l4m5n6o"

Properties:

Random: Uses browser's cryptographically secure random number generator
Unique: Collision probability < 1 in 10^18 (astronomically low)
Anonymous: Not linked to any personal identifier
Local: Generated and stored in browser's local storage
Deletable: User can clear it anytime in settings

2. 24-Hour Rotating API Keys (v2.0)

Purpose: Rate limiting and abuse prevention while preserving privacy.

User Control: Automatically managed (no manual configuration needed).

What We Collect

When using server-assisted detection:

Data Point	Technical Description	Example Value	Can Identify You?
API Key	Cryptographically random 64-char hex	`qwip_v2_a1b2c3d4...`	⚠️ Temporary (24h only)
Created At	UTC timestamp	`2026-01-05T15:30:00Z`	❌ No
Expires At	UTC timestamp	`2026-01-06T15:30:00Z`	❌ No
Last Used	UTC timestamp	`2026-01-06T10:15:00Z`	❌ No
Request Counts	Integers (per endpoint)	`check: 47, contribute: 12`	❌ No
Reputation Score	Float (0.0-1.0)	`0.95`	❌ No
Session ID	Optional linkage	`a3f2b1c4...` (from section 1)	❌ No

Example Database Entry

json

{
  "key_id": "qwip_v2_a1b2c3d4e5f6789012345678901234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef123456",
  "created_at": "2026-01-05T15:30:00Z",
  "expires_at": "2026-01-06T15:30:00Z",
  "last_used": "2026-01-06T10:15:00Z",
  "is_active": true,
  "session_id": "a3f2b1c4-5d6e-7f8g-9h0i-1j2k3l4m5n6o",
  "request_count_check": 47,
  "request_count_contribute": 12,
  "total_requests": 59,
  "reputation_score": 0.95,
  "positive_votes": 45,
  "negative_votes": 2,
  "rate_limit_hits": 0,
  "suspicious_patterns": false
}

How It Works

Extension requests key on first install via /api/register (IP rate-limited: 100/day)
Server generates key using cryptographically secure random number generator
Key expires after 24 hours automatically (privacy by design)
Extension auto-rotates 30 minutes before expiry (seamless, no downtime)
Expired keys have 2-hour grace period (server issues new key in 401 response)
After grace period: Must request new key (IP rate-limited prevents abuse)

Privacy Properties

What This Data CAN Tell Us (Temporarily):

✅ How many requests you made during the 24-hour window
✅ Whether your contributions tend to be accurate (reputation score)
✅ If you're hitting rate limits (abuse detection)

What This Data CANNOT Tell Us (Even Temporarily):

❌ Who you are - Key is random, no identity linkage
❌ What images you analyzed - Only request counts, no content
❌ Where you browsed - No URLs or domains
❌ Your location - IP addresses hashed before storage (for rate limiting only)
❌ Long-term tracking - Keys expire after 24h, no persistent identifier

Why 24-Hour Rotation?

Privacy: Prevents long-term tracking. After 24 hours, your old key is orphaned and cannot be linked to your new key.

Abuse Prevention: Rate limiting (1000 req/day per key) prevents spam and abuse.

Balance: Rotating keys strike a balance between privacy (no permanent ID) and functionality (rate limiting, reputation tracking).

Comparison: Traditional vs Rotating Keys

Property	Traditional API Keys	qwip Rotating Keys (v2.0)
Lifetime	Permanent	24 hours
Long-term tracking	✅ Yes	❌ No
Rate limiting	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Abuse prevention	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
User privacy	❌ Poor	✅ Good
Extractable	⚠️ Yes	⚠️ Yes (by design)

IP Address Handling (Rate Limiting Only)

When registering new keys via /api/register:

IP address is hashed (one-way SHA256) before storage
Used only to enforce 100 registrations/day limit per IP
Not stored in plaintext anywhere
Not logged in server logs
Cannot be reversed to identify you
Automatically deleted after 25 hours

Example:

Your IP: 192.168.1.1
Stored hash: a1b2c3d4e5f6...  (SHA256, cannot be reversed)
Purpose: Count registrations from this hash
Retention: 25 hours (auto-delete)

3. Image Hash Database (Optional)

Purpose: Crowdsource detection accuracy by recognizing previously-seen images.

User Control: Can disable in settings ("Contribute to Database" toggle).

What We Collect

When you enable "Contribute to Database":

Data Point	Technical Description	Example Value	Can Identify You?
Perceptual Hashes	Binary hash vectors (5 types)	`mean: 0xA3F2B1C4...`	❌ No - one-way function
BLAKE3 Content Hash	256-bit cryptographic hash	`abc123def456...` (64 chars)	❌ No - one-way function
Detection Result	Boolean + confidence	`likely_ai: true, confidence: 0.92`	❌ No - just a label
Model Used	String (model name)	`"cifake"`	❌ No
Timestamp	UTC timestamp	`2025-12-28T10:30:00Z`	❌ No

Example Database Entry

json

{
  "blake3": "abc123def456789...abcdef123456789abcdef123456789abcdef123456789",
  "perceptual_hashes": {
    "mean": "0xA3F2B1C4D5E6F7G8",
    "gradient": "0xB4C5D6E7F8G9H0I1",
    "double_gradient": "0xC6D7E8F9G0H1I2J3",
    "block": "0xD8E9F0G1H2I3J4K5",
    "dct": "0xE0F1G2H3I4J5K6L7"
  },
  "likely_ai": true,
  "confidence": 0.92,
  "model": "cifake",
  "votes": 3,
  "first_seen": "2025-12-28T10:30:00Z"
}

Why Hashes Can't Be Reversed

Perceptual Hashing:

Input: 1920×1080 image = 2,073,600 pixels × 3 channels = 6.2 million values
Output: 64-bit hash = 8 bytes = 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 possible values
Information loss: Massive reduction (6.2 million → 1 value)
Reversal: Mathematically impossible - infinite possible images map to same hash

BLAKE3 Content Hashing:

Cryptographic hash function (secure variant of BLAKE2)
One-way: Computing hash from image is fast, reverse is impossible
Collision resistant: Different images → different hashes (with overwhelming probability)

Analogy: It's like taking a photo and reducing it to one number: its average brightness. You can't recreate the photo from just knowing it was "medium brightness."

What This Data CANNOT Tell Us

❌ The original image - Hashes are one-way, can't be reversed
❌ Who submitted it - No session ID or user identifier attached
❌ Where it came from - No URL, domain, or website information
❌ When you saw it - Only when hash was first added to database

3. Aggregated Daily Metrics

Purpose: Platform health monitoring and investor reporting.

Storage: Aggregated counters, no individual records.

What We Aggregate

Metric	Description	Example Value	Granularity
Daily Active Users (DAU)	Unique session IDs seen today	`1,234`	Per day
Weekly Active Users (WAU)	Unique session IDs seen this week	`5,678`	Per week
Monthly Active Users (MAU)	Unique session IDs seen this month	`12,345`	Per month
Images Analyzed	Total count across all users	`98,765`	Per day
AI Detection Rate	Percentage flagged as AI	`23.4%`	Per day
Average Confidence	Mean confidence score	`0.87`	Per day

Example Aggregated Data

json

{
  "date": "2025-12-28",
  "dau": 1234,
  "images_analyzed": 9876,
  "ai_detection_rate": 0.234,
  "avg_confidence": 0.87,
  "model_distribution": {
    "cifake": 67,
    "genimage": 28,
    "swin": 5
  }
}

Privacy Protection

No individual records - Only totals and averages
No reverse lookup - Can't go from aggregate → individual users
Time-series only - Daily/weekly/monthly snapshots

4. What We DON'T Collect

Never Collected (By Design)

Category	Examples	Why Not
Personal Information	Name, email, phone number, address	Not needed for functionality
Browsing History	URLs visited, websites browsed	Not needed, privacy violation
Image Content	Pixels, thumbnails, screenshots	Detection runs locally
Location Data	GPS, IP address geolocation	Not needed
Device Fingerprints	Browser version, screen size, fonts	Privacy violation
Cookies	Tracking cookies, third-party cookies	Not used
Cross-Site Tracking	Following you across websites	Privacy violation

Not Even in Server Logs

Standard web server logs often include:

IP addresses → We strip these from logs
User agents → We don't log these
Referrer headers → We don't log these

Our server logs only contain:

Timestamp
Endpoint accessed (/api/check, /api/contribute)
Response status (200, 404, 500)
Anonymous session ID (only if included in request)

Example sanitized log:

2025-12-28T10:30:00Z POST /api/heartbeat 200 45ms
2025-12-28T10:30:15Z POST /api/check 200 120ms
2025-12-28T10:30:22Z POST /api/contribute 200 35ms

6. Data Lifecycle & Retention

Redis Cache (Temporary Storage)

Data Type	TTL (Time To Live)	Auto-Delete
Daily active users	25 hours	Yes
Weekly active users	8 days	Yes
Monthly active users	32 days	Yes
Session stats	30 days	Yes
Rate limit counters	25 hours	Yes
IP registration hashes	25 hours	Yes

Why Redis?

In-memory storage (fast)
Automatic expiration (privacy by default)
No persistent logging

SQLite Database (Persistent Storage)

Data Type	Retention Policy	Deletion
API keys	24 hours + 2h grace period	Automatic (26h total)
Session records	30 days of inactivity	Automatic cron job
Daily aggregates	90 days	Automatic
Image hashes	Indefinite*	On user request

*Image hashes are kept indefinitely to maintain database accuracy, but can be deleted on user request.

Data Flow Diagram

Extension (Local)
       │
       │ Heartbeat every 5 min
       ▼
Redis Cache (TTL: 30 days)
       │
       │ Aggregate daily
       ▼
SQLite Database
       │
       │ Purge > 30 days inactive
       ▼
Deleted permanently

7. Your Control

Option 1: Disable All Server Features

How:

Open qwip extension → Settings tab
Toggle OFF "Server-Assisted Detection"
Toggle OFF "Contribute to Database"

Result:

✅ 100% local-only processing
✅ Zero data sent to servers
✅ No API keys generated
✅ Still works (slightly lower accuracy)

Option 2: Clear Your Session Data

How:

Open qwip extension → Settings tab
Click "Clear Session Data"

Result:

✅ Session ID deleted immediately
✅ Current API key deleted (orphaned on server)
✅ New random session ID generated on next use
✅ New API key generated on next server request
✅ Previous ID and key become orphaned (no way to link to you)

Option 3: Request Hash Deletion

How:

Email privacy@qwip.io with the BLAKE3 hash you want deleted
We'll remove it within 7 days

Note: You'd need to know the exact hash (visible in extension developer console if you enabled logging).

Option 4: Uninstall Extension

How:

Right-click extension icon → Remove from Chrome
Confirm deletion

Result:

✅ All local data cleared (session ID, stats, settings)
✅ Server still has orphaned session ID (anonymous, can't link to you)
✅ Image hashes remain (no way to identify which were yours)

7. Compliance Summary

Requirement	Our Compliance
Data minimization	✅ Only collect anonymous session IDs
Purpose limitation	✅ Only for platform analytics
Storage limitation	✅ Auto-delete after 30 days
Right to erasure	✅ Clear session data anytime
Right to access	✅ View local storage, request server data
Right to portability	✅ Export local storage JSON

Lawful basis: Legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)) - minimal anonymous analytics for service improvement.

CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act)

Category	Status
Personal Information collected	❌ None (session IDs are not PI under CCPA)
Sale of personal information	❌ N/A (no PI to sell)
Right to know	✅ This document
Right to delete	✅ Clear session data
Right to opt-out	✅ Disable server features

COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act)

Status: ✅ Compliant

No personal information collected from anyone (including children under 13)
No parental consent needed
Safe for all ages

Questions?

Technical details: See Security Practices
Legal rights: See User Rights
Regulations: See Compliance
Privacy concerns: Email privacy@qwip.io

Transparency Commitment: We update this document quarterly and notify users of any material changes. Last review: January 2026 (v2.0 rotating API keys).

Data Collection Practices ​

Table of Contents ​

1. Anonymous Session Analytics ​

What We Collect ​

Example Database Entry ​

What This Data CANNOT Tell Us ​

How Session ID Is Generated ​

2. 24-Hour Rotating API Keys (v2.0) ​

What We Collect ​

Example Database Entry ​

How It Works ​

Privacy Properties ​

Why 24-Hour Rotation? ​

Comparison: Traditional vs Rotating Keys ​

IP Address Handling (Rate Limiting Only) ​

3. Image Hash Database (Optional) ​

What We Collect ​

Example Database Entry ​

Why Hashes Can't Be Reversed ​

What This Data CANNOT Tell Us ​

3. Aggregated Daily Metrics ​

What We Aggregate ​

Example Aggregated Data ​

Privacy Protection ​

4. What We DON'T Collect ​

Never Collected (By Design) ​

Not Even in Server Logs ​

6. Data Lifecycle & Retention ​

Redis Cache (Temporary Storage) ​

SQLite Database (Persistent Storage) ​

Data Flow Diagram ​

7. Your Control ​

Option 1: Disable All Server Features ​

Option 2: Clear Your Session Data ​

Option 3: Request Hash Deletion ​

Option 4: Uninstall Extension ​

7. Compliance Summary ​

GDPR (EU General Data Protection Regulation) ​

CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) ​

COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) ​

Questions? ​

Data Collection Practices

Table of Contents

1. Anonymous Session Analytics

What We Collect

Example Database Entry

What This Data CANNOT Tell Us

How Session ID Is Generated

2. 24-Hour Rotating API Keys (v2.0)

What We Collect

Example Database Entry

How It Works

Privacy Properties

Why 24-Hour Rotation?

Comparison: Traditional vs Rotating Keys

IP Address Handling (Rate Limiting Only)

3. Image Hash Database (Optional)

What We Collect

Example Database Entry

Why Hashes Can't Be Reversed

What This Data CANNOT Tell Us

3. Aggregated Daily Metrics

What We Aggregate

Example Aggregated Data

Privacy Protection

4. What We DON'T Collect

Never Collected (By Design)

Not Even in Server Logs

6. Data Lifecycle & Retention

Redis Cache (Temporary Storage)

SQLite Database (Persistent Storage)

Data Flow Diagram

7. Your Control

Option 1: Disable All Server Features

Option 2: Clear Your Session Data

Option 3: Request Hash Deletion

Option 4: Uninstall Extension

7. Compliance Summary

GDPR (EU General Data Protection Regulation)

CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act)

COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act)

Questions?