Pensa

A browser extension that notices persuasion techniques on shopping pages — countdown timers, limited-stock messages, crossed-out reference prices — and, at add-to-cart or checkout, asks a question about what was actually on screen.

It reports what a page displayed and asks a question. It never asserts intent, deception, or illegality.

By default it makes no network requests. Everything it notices stays on your device, and detections are deleted after 30 days by default. There is one optional setting, off unless you switch it on, that shares which shops use which techniques and whether people added the item to their cart — it names the shop’s domain, never the page, and never you.

It asks for access to all https sites when you install it, and Chrome will say so. That permission is broad on purpose: persuasion techniques are not confined to a list of big retailers, and a fixed list is always wrong in the direction that leaves people unprotected. It never runs on banking, health, government or webmail sites, and it sends nothing anywhere unless you turn sharing on. The privacy policy explains how both of those are enforced rather than merely promised.

Pensa was previously published as Vero.