Privacy & data handling

Summary

• We collect ranked lists of restaurants Google Maps shows for four pre-set Boston-area queries, plus your responses to a short questionnaire.
• Each submission is tagged with a randomly-generated installation identifier — never your name, email, IP address, or Google profile.
• The extension only runs when you explicitly click Start study. It does not run continuously and does not track your general browsing.
• The extension's full source code is open and can be audited before you install it.

What the extension collects

Each submission contains:

• A pseudonymous installation identifier (UUID v4) generated locally when you install the extension. This identifier links your four searches together so we can compare them — it has no link to your identity.
• For each of the four neighborhoods (Downtown, Shopping District, Harvard Square, Jamaica Plain):
  • The ranked list of restaurant names Google Maps showed.
  • The corresponding Google Maps URLs for each restaurant.
  • Whether the result was collected signed-in or in incognito.
  • Timestamps for the start and end of the search.
• A login-status flag — a yes/no indicator that you were signed into Google Maps during the personalized search. The extension does not read your account name, email, or avatar.
• Your responses to the post-study questionnaire (familiarity with the neighborhoods, dining habits, etc.).

What the extension does not collect

• Your name, email address, or Google account profile.
• Your IP address (the submission endpoint discards it on receipt).
• Your browsing history, location, or anything outside the four pre-set Maps queries.
• The contents of any other tab or window. Content scripts only run on pages matching https://www.google.com/maps/*.
• Cookies, login tokens, or anything authenticated to your Google account.

Where your data goes

When you click Submit at the end of the study, the extension posts a single JSON payload to a study endpoint operated by the Social Urban Network Lab at Northeastern University. The payload travels over HTTPS only.

The endpoint stores submissions in a research database accessible only to approved members of the research team, under the IRB protocol governing this study.

Who can see your data

• Approved members of the Social Urban Network Lab research team.
• Northeastern University's IRB office, in the event of an audit.

Aggregate, de-identified results may appear in academic publications, talks, or open datasets — but only in forms that cannot be linked back to any individual installation identifier.

How long we keep it

Submissions are retained for the duration of the research project and a follow-up archival period as required by the IRB. Beyond that, raw submissions are either deleted or further de-identified for long-term archival.

Withdrawing from the study

You can stop participating at any time:

1. To stop the extension immediately: open chrome://extensions and click Remove on the AI-scapes card.
2. To request deletion of an already-submitted record, email the study contact below with your installation identifier (visible on the extension's thank-you page) and we will delete the matching submission from our database.

Your rights as a research participant

This study is conducted under IRB protocol [DRAFT — REPLACE BEFORE LAUNCH IRB#] at Northeastern University. If you have questions about your rights as a research participant, or concerns about the conduct of the study, you may contact Northeastern University's Office of Human Subject Research Protection independently of the research team.

Contact

• Lab: socialurban.net
• Email: sunlab.netsi@gmail.com
• Principal investigator: Prof. Esteban Moro
• Source code: github.com/SUNLab-NetSI

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