That's the priveledge that Chrome extensions require in order to inspect URLs as you load them, so they can conditionally apply themselves to the appropriate si

That's the priveledge that Chrome extensions require in order to inspect URLs as you load them, so they can conditionally apply themselves to the appropriate site(s). As far as I know, there isn't a more granular priveledge to allow access only to URLs as they're loaded (which an extension could still use to track your browsing habits by storing them in its localStorage).