Hi Tammy,

At Penn we are starting a trial period for Lean Library which has come
about only after extensive testing and discussion about whether the risks
of the product are balanced by the benefits. I won't recap the back and
forth but we ultimately decided that our security/privacy concerns could
apply to browser extensions/add-ons in general and weren't specific to Lean
Library, that Lean Library's business model doesn't rely on exploiting the
sensitive data, and that Lean Library would ameliorate what we see as a
particular pain point for users. Therefore we have decided to go ahead with
the pilot but will present it with a disclaimer about what it means to
install extensions in general.

Regards,
Emily
AUL Digital Library Development & Systems
Penn Libraries

On Tue, Aug 21, 2018 at 6:05 PM Tammy Wolf <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I just wondered if anyone else on this list reviewed Lean Library<mailto:
> https://www.leanlibrary.com/> and had any security and/or privacy
> concerns.
>
> Here is what our Director of Security had to say,
>
> "I can confirm that browsing activity is sent to lean library. Attached is
> an example screenshot showing the POST when visiting a URL on reddit.com.
> And if you visit https://app.leanlibrary.com/?r=api/api/institutes it's
> trivial to see info about all subscribers of lean library.
>
> Also, there are Repeated Pings to capture user IP Address. This was also
> verified during the session capture. This occurs via
> https://app.leanlibrary.com/?r=api/api/getIp."
>
> Our Security Director goes on to say the following:
>
> "Of course this is also a question of consent. Any users of the plugin
> should first have to consent to the privacy policy:
> https://www.leanlibrary.com/privacy-policy/item181 - which would be in
> conflict with deploying this automatically to lab computers. I have some
> issues with the privacy policy itself as well. It states:
>
> What information does Lean Library and The Extension NOT obtain?
> Your security and privacy is our biggest priority. We are only interested
> in information or data that can help us deliver the best experience
> possible in saving you time while and optimizing your academic research.
> Therefore, The Extension does not store any information for other browsing
> activity such as activity on non-database webpage urls.
> Maybe they aren't technically "storing" the fact that I visited a URL on
> reddit.com, but that visit still went to their server and was captured /
> analyzed *somehow*. It would be more accurate for them to say that they
> analyze all sites you visit to determine whether they are academic in
> nature, or something. But that would be a red flag."
>
> Thoughts?
>
> Tammy Allgood Wolf
> Director of Discovery Services
> ASU Library
> Arizona State University
> 480-965-1797
>