Banished

Ipse cogita.

PRIVACY & DATA TRANSPARENCY Banished enforces school acceptable-use rules on managed Chromebooks. It does not build a general browsing history of allowed sites and does not sell data. When a page is blocked, limited event metadata may be recorded (sanitized URL/path, hostname, category/reason) to support enforcement and optional domain blocklist curation for school IT. Optional district features (disabled by default): remote policy sync and fleet telemetry may include a local device identifier, extension/platform info, block events tied to that device, and—when available from the signed-in Chrome/Workspace profile—an email address for device identification in the admin console. Schools control these features via managed policy. No advertising use. No sale of student data. See the full Privacy Policy for permissions and details. Banished – School Chromebook Proxy & Distraction Blocker A policy enforcement extension for school-managed Chromebooks. It helps IT teams reduce proxy/circumvention use and common classroom distractions, with configuration controlled through Google Admin (managed storage)—not by students. KEY CAPABILITIES • Multi-signal detection of common web proxies and circumvention stacks (e.g. Ultraviolet, Scramjet, Bare/Wisp-style transports, related loaders) • Title / tab spoofing checks • Console signature checks (when enabled) • Admin allow/block patterns and exempt domains via Google Workspace managed policy (JSON) • Optional clipboard / anti-AI copy controls on configured sites • Optional bookmark cleanup when enabled by policy • Custom block experience and optional admin push styles (normal, alert, chaos) • Block reporting: sanitized URLs (path kept; query, fragment, and credentials stripped) for building shared domain blocklists • Optional remote policy sync and fleet telemetry (off by default) for districts that opt in ADMIN CONTROL • Primary control: Google Admin managed policy (schema-backed JSON) • Optional: remote policy API + push refresh for faster fleet updates when the district enables it • Managed policy keys take precedence when explicitly set; remote values only fills the gaps OPTIONAL REMOTE / FLEET FEATURES (DISTRICT OPT-IN) When “enable remote policy” is turned on by the organization: • Devices can sync policy from the district’s backend • Heartbeats may report device id, extension version, platform, and policy version • Block events can be associated with a device for admin telemetry • If Chrome provides a signed-in Workspace profile email, it may be shown in the admin fleet view to identify the device user (falls back to a local device id when email is unavailable) Default: remote policy is OFF. With remote off, the extension relies on managed policy and local enforcement; optional Google Form block reports may still send sanitized URL + reason for blocklist curation (no general browsing history). SECURITY HARDENING • Main-world detections are validated before enforcement • Policy refresh does not clear an active block on a page • Dynamic admin/notification UI text is escaped • Local policy mutation from untrusted page messages is rejected INTENDED USE For K–12 (and similar) environments on school-managed devices under proper administrative authority. Not intended as a consumer “spy” or general activity monitor on permitted sites. Permissions are limited to enforcement, policy, and optional district-controlled remote admin features described in the Privacy Policy. v228 Update Notes: - Hardened and optimized the background service worker for improved performance and reliability. - Fixed bugs in the admin notification system. - Simplified the default block page and added support for custom block page URLs. - Improved proxy detection - Improved detection of proxy sites using disguised file types. - Improved blocking of single-page proxies and repeat visits. - Expanded SQL-backed fleet management and device monitoring. -Added bookmark auditing and bulk bookmark deletion through the Admin UI. -Improved admin command tracking, device polling, and status reporting. - Expanded violation logging and reporting capabilities. - Improved whitelist handling and reduced unnecessary console logging. - Updated the Easter egg with Chromebook detection, reduced animations for lower-powered devices, and improved text visibility. - Continued testing and migration of backend admin features from v2 to v3. Bookmark auditing and other administrative features remain disabled by default unless enabled through managed JSON policies. **Banished v229** This update introduces the foundation for our next-generation fleet management backend, alongside improvements to reliability and Chromebook administration. **What's New:** - Added optional Cloudflare backend integration for improved scalability. - Added automatic fallback to the existing backend when Cloudflare is unavailable. - Improved SQL fleet communication and retry handling. - Continued improvements to bookmark auditing and remote management. - Improved compatibility with centralized policy management. - General stability improvements and bug fixes. **Banished v230** ### New Features - **V4 Backend Integration:** Added opt-in Cloudflare Worker routing for fleet synchronization, policy retrieval, heartbeat telemetry, and violation logging. - **Improved Backend Reliability:** Added safer V3 fallback behavior for supported read-only operations while preventing automatic fallback for bookmark commands and completion receipts. - **Redesigned Easter Egg:** ### Improvements - **Fleet Command Safety:** Improved handling and validation of V4 bookmark command responses to reduce the risk of duplicate execution. - **Policy Compatibility:** Maintained compatibility with existing Google Admin settings and V3 policy infrastructure. ### Fixes - Improved validation of malformed V4 backend responses. - Prevented unsafe automatic V3 fallback for potentially destructive bookmark operations. ### Compatibility - Existing Google Admin JSON settings remain supported. - V4 backend functionality remains opt-in. - Existing V3 backend functionality remains available. **Banished v231 — Patch Notes** Fixed detection for sneaky file type urls' then added more checks for redirects and scanners **Banished v232** - Retired Legacy v2 system, v4 back end seems stable - Updated Icon and store images to reflect the new updates - Updated block page