The short version. bricktab has no accounts, so we never ask for your name or your email to use it. The extension creates a random anonymous ID, uses it to count likes and measure which stories get read, and lets you reset it whenever you like. Pictures and icons in the feed load directly from the sites that host them, which can see your IP address. This website uses Google Analytics, which only sets cookies if you accept them.
Who we are
bricktab is a browser extension that replaces the new tab page with a feed of LEGO® fan news, deals and community events. This policy covers the extension, the service behind it at bricktab.news, and this website. bricktab is a project by the team behind brick.news, and it is intended for adult fans of the hobby.
We are the controller of the personal data described here. You can reach us through the contact form.
What stays on your device
The extension keeps the following in your browser's own extension storage. It is not sent to us unless a later section says so.
- Your bookmarks. If your browser syncs extension data (Chrome, Edge, and Firefox with Firefox Sync on), a short copy of each bookmark, its title, link, source and dates, also travels through your browser account to your other computers. That copy goes through your browser maker's sync service, never through us.
- Your settings, such as language, theme, default country and notification choices.
- A cached copy of the latest feed, so a new tab can paint instantly and offline.
- Your anonymous ID, and a short queue of usage events waiting to be sent.
- Your best score in Brick jump, the offline game, and how long that run lasted. It is sent to us only if you say yes when the game asks, see the next section.
Removing the extension deletes all of it.
What the extension sends to us
| Data | Why |
|---|---|
| Anonymous ID. A random identifier generated on install. It is not derived from your device, your browser profile or anything about you. | To count each like once, to let you change your vote later, and to stop one install flooding the service. |
| Likes and dislikes on stories, sponsored cards and deals. | To rank the feed. Like totals are shown publicly as a number. Dislikes are never shown. |
| Usage events. That a story, sponsored card or deal was shown or opened, and when. | To understand what readers find useful and to report totals to advertisers. Advertisers only ever receive totals. |
| Feed preferences. The language and sort order of the feed you request. | To send you the right feed. |
| Feedback you choose to send. Ratings, comments, source suggestions and the optional uninstall survey, together with the extension version, your browser's name and version, and the language you use bricktab in. An email address only if you type one in. | To improve bricktab and, if you asked for it, to reply. |
| Price lookups. The set number and the region you chose, when the BrickLink prices helper is on. | To fetch prices for that set. The lookup is made by our server, so BrickLink does not see you. |
| Your Brick jump best score, with the play time of the run that set it, only when you say yes to the question the game asks after a new best. Every new best asks again, and a no sends nothing. | To show the highest score of all players inside the game. The top score is shown as a number only, never with an ID or a name. |
Like every web service, our servers and our content delivery provider also process your IP address and basic request details when the extension connects. We use them for security and rate limiting. We do not store your IP address alongside your anonymous ID or your activity.
What we do not collect
- No name, postal address or phone number.
- No email address, unless you choose to give us one in a feedback or contact form.
- No browsing history. The extension cannot see the pages you visit.
- No advertising identifiers, fingerprinting or cross-site tracking.
Images and icons in the feed
The pictures on stories, deals and sponsored cards are not stored in the extension. Your browser loads each one directly from where it is hosted, which can be our own server, the publisher's site or an image host used by a publisher or shop. The small icon beside each source comes from that source's logo or, when it has none, from Google's favicon service at www.google.com/s2/favicons, which is sent the address of the source's website or of the story.
As with any picture on the web, these servers receive your IP address and basic request details, such as your browser type, and can see that the file was requested. They handle this under their own privacy policies. We do not send them your anonymous ID, your likes or your bookmarks.
Optional LEGO.com helpers
The BrickLink prices panel, the Insiders points value and the LEGO Ideas button are off by default. If you switch one on, your browser asks you to grant bricktab access to lego.com, and only then does the helper run on those pages.
The helpers read what they need from the page in front of you, such as a set number, a points figure or a project name. They do not read your LEGO account, your basket, your orders or your payment details, and they send nothing to us other than the price lookup described above. Turning a helper off in Settings stops it straight away, and you can withdraw the browser permission at any time.
This website
bricktab.news uses Google Analytics, a service of Google Ireland Limited, to understand how many people visit, which pages they read and how they arrived. It is the only third-party service the site loads. The fonts, images and everything else come from our own server.
Analytics runs in Google's consent mode. Until you choose, and if you choose No thanks, it sets no cookies and keeps no identifier for you: Google receives a limited, cookieless signal that a page was viewed, together with the technical details every request carries, such as your IP address, browser type and the page address. If you choose Accept, Analytics sets first-party cookies (their names start with _ga) that tell one visitor from another for up to two years, and records your visits and what you do on the site, including which outbound links you follow. Your choice is remembered in your browser's local storage, not in a cookie.
You can change your mind at any time with the Cookie settings link at the bottom of every page. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, we treat that as No thanks and do not ask. Google's own explanation is at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites, and its browser add-on to opt out of Analytics everywhere is at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. The extension itself contains no Google Analytics.
bricktab's own server does not count or record what you click on this website, the only measurement is the Analytics described above. When you follow a link to a shop, a browser store or another site you leave bricktab.news, and the site you arrive at applies its own policy.
If you use the contact form, we receive your name, your email address, the topic you picked and your message by email. We use them only to answer you. We keep the conversation for as long as it takes to deal with your request and delete it within twelve months of the last message, unless the law requires us to keep it longer.
You can always use the contact form on our website instead.
Why we are allowed to use this data
Where the GDPR or a similar law applies, we rely on:
- Legitimate interests for running the service, counting votes, keeping it secure, preventing abuse and measuring in aggregate what is read.
- Consent for anything optional: desktop notifications, the LEGO.com helpers, sharing your Brick jump best score, analytics cookies on this website, and the details you send through a feedback or contact form. You can withdraw consent at any time.
- Legal obligation where a law requires us to keep or disclose something.
Data sharing
We use a small number of service providers who process data on our behalf and only on our instructions: a web hosting provider, an email provider, and Google Ireland Limited for the website analytics described above. Advertisers and deal partners receive totals only, never your anonymous ID. Beyond that and the picture requests described under Images and icons in the feed, your data stays with us: we do not sell personal data, and we do not pass it to anyone else.
bricktab links to publishers, shops and affiliate networks. When you follow a link you leave bricktab, and the site you arrive at applies its own privacy policy and may set its own cookies. See the Affiliate Disclosure.
How long we keep it
- Individual usage events for stories are deleted after 7 days. Those for sponsored cards and deals are deleted after 90 days. After that only daily totals remain, which identify nobody.
- Votes are kept with the anonymous ID for as long as the story is in the service, so the count stays correct.
- Feedback and suggestions are kept until they have been dealt with and are no longer useful for improving bricktab.
- A Brick jump score you chose to share is kept with your anonymous ID until a better run of yours replaces it. The top score shown in the game only counts runs from the last 30 days, and resetting your anonymous ID cuts the link to any score you shared.
Your choices and rights
Inside the extension you can reset your anonymous ID from Settings. This cuts the link between you and everything sent before, for good. You can also switch off notifications and each helper, say no when the game asks about sharing a score, and removing the extension clears everything stored on your device.
Depending on where you live, you have the right to ask for access to your data, to have it corrected or deleted, to restrict or object to its use, and to receive a copy of it. Because we do not know who you are, we may ask you for your anonymous ID to find your records. Send your request through the contact form. You also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority.
International transfers and security
Our providers, Google among them, may process data outside your country, including in the United States. Where that happens we rely on the safeguards the law provides, such as standard contractual clauses. The sites that host feed pictures and icons may also be in other countries. All traffic between the extension, this site and our servers is encrypted in transit, access to the service is restricted, and we collect as little as we can in the first place.
Changes to this policy
When we change this policy we update the date at the top of the page. If a change is significant we will say so inside the extension. Questions are always welcome through the contact form.