Shh the Bobs: privacy and safety for schools

Shh the Bobs is a classroom quiet game for the smartboard, made by Sidetracked Studios. While the room is quiet, a crew of cartoon window washers keeps the screen clean and the game moves forward; when the room gets loud, they stop and show off. It runs in a web browser. There is nothing to install.

Addresses (for web filters)

• https://shhthebobs.com (main)
• https://play.sidetrackedstudios.com (the same game)

What it contacts

• It loads only its own files from the address above: the page, its code, pictures and one font, about 1.3 MB in total.
• After that it makes no network requests at all. There are no third-party scripts, fonts, analytics, ads, trackers or cookies.
• This is enforced by the site's Content Security Policy (default-src 'self'; connect-src 'self'): browsers refuse to contact any other server, even by accident. Anyone can check it in the browser's developer tools.

The microphone

• The browser asks for the microphone only after the teacher presses Start.
• The sound is measured inside the browser as loudness numbers (and whether a sound is a soft "shhh"). It is never recorded, stored or sent anywhere.
• The site's Permissions Policy allows the microphone for this site only, and blocks the camera and location.

What is saved

• Only on that computer, in the browser's local storage: the teacher's settings (sensitivity, game length, car colour) and the class's best times (with the positions of the class's race car for a "ghost" replay, never audio).
• It is never sent anywhere. Clearing the site's data in the browser removes it.
• No accounts, no logins, no names, no student data.

Hosting

• Static files only (no server code, no database), hosted by Cloudflare (Cloudflare, Inc., USA). The domain is registered with Cloudflare.
• Like any website, the host sees standard connection details (such as the IP address) in order to deliver the files. We add no tracking and collect nothing.

Requirements

• A current version of Chrome (including Chromebooks), Edge or Safari, and a microphone (a laptop's built-in one is fine).