Why does Clippings require so many permissions?

[Brett Marks]

Hello,

Just checking out Clippings but when I went to install it it stated it needed a boatload of permissions. I'm not sure of all the intricacies of Clippings, but to me, the below seemed like a lot of permissions required for a simple clipping program (again, I don't know everything it does at this point so no offense intended by calling it "simple").

So what I imagine it does is store any clippings you want - so am unsure why it needs, for example, permission to the download history, browsing history, access browser tabs etc - I assume the top one is needed to be able to copy and store text on a page?

Thanks very much!

[ateng]

WebExtensions in Firefox need to request permission to perform many functions.  In the case of Clippings, even the most basic functions that most users take for granted, like storing your clippings, require that the user grant it permission to do so. This is being imposed by Firefox in the supposed interest of security and transparency -- though I agree that it can be intrusive, and I suspect has scared many potential users away from installing it.

If you want to learn the specifics on each requested permission for Clippings, you can find the details here: http://aecreations.sourceforge.net/clippings/permissions.php - this page is also linked in the add-on detail page when expanding Clippings in the list of installed add-ons in Add-on Manager.

Alex

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AE Creations website
http://aecreations.sourceforge.net/

the AE Creations blog
http://aecreations.blogspot.com/

[Brett Marks]

Ok great - thanks a lot for the response Alex. :)