Bottom Line

TL:DR? Don't worry, we did it for you!

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Inspiration

Bottom Line was inspired by the many long, boring, and confusing terms and conditions that we all blindly agree to before using any online product or service. These Terms of Service conditions are intentionally written to be as difficult to read as possible and the goal was to counter that and digital transparency so that users are aware of what they're agreeing to.

What it does

We created a Terms of Service summarizer in the form of a chrome extension (the most accessible platform for this product) that searches through the terms and conditions agreements and finds keywords and their contexts within the agreement to form a comprehensive summary. The user essentially highlights the Terms of Service agreement, right clicks on it, and then clicks the summarize option. The summaries are stored in a blockchain protected web-app (built using the Blockstack platform) so that users have a log of agreements they've agreed to so that they're aware of what data can be accessed by what company. The web app is linked to the user's Blockstack account and can be accessed through different devices.

How we built it

Using Javascript, React, HTML, CSS and the Blockstack platform.

Challenges we ran into

One big challenge included modifying the Blockstack webapp to function according to the needs of the program. There were specific functions and interactions that needed to occur between the program and the webapp that were difficult to set up. It was also challenging to configure the chrome extension to direct the user to the proper location based on the desired keyword.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are very proud that we were able to create a functional Google Chrome extension with minimal Javascript education. An extension of our complexity needed a lot of trial and error and also research, which were worth it at the end.

What we learned

We learned a great deal about web development and really advancement our programming knowledge in the rigorous 36 hours of the competition. We gained an understanding of developing a Google Chrome extension and learned a lot about data storage and functionality between .html, .js, and .json files.

What's next for Bottom Line

Our next steps include creating a popup feature where the user could select a block of text to be summarized and a window would pop up containing the main points of the document. Another future improvement could be fully automating as much as possible, leaving as little manual work on the part of the user. Bottom Line could also be modified to function on mobile devices as many online agreements are signed on your smartphone. Finally, Bottom Line would like to integrate an AI system into its summarizing process that uses NLP to create a more accurate and comprehensive run down of the ToS agreement's content.

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