The idea is very similar, but I can't agree with a few implementation details:
- The extension shouldn't need to have access to the page. Inserting an iframe into the page seems wrong.
- The extension shouldn't own the comments. It should be a window to the comments, not a gatekeeper. It should be possible to implement alternative UIs and alternative extensions and connect them to the same comments.
- The extension should allow to switch the UI and the data server.
I like the inline annotations, but likely it'll need full access to DOM.
I'm not intimately acquainted with the internal of hypothes.is but there is an open API, based on open standards. So you can build whatever you want with it.