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PSA: Audacity

DonH56

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Well, that sucks... Is there a way to opt out or block all that data collection, or is it now embedded into the program?

Leaving aside the question of if you'd trust the opt-out option...
 

Koeitje

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Looks like a fork will be created sooner than later.
 

Sashoir

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Well, that sucks... Is there a way to opt out or block all that data collection, or is it now embedded into the program?

Leaving aside the question of if you'd trust the opt-out option...
I believe one can indeed opt out, though as you say, whether opting out does anything...at any event, it might be prudent to await the fork.
 

Katji

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I just now saw it in MacRumors feed...


Audacity 'Spyware' Claims Follow Privacy Policy Changes By New Owner
MacRumors: Mac News and Rumors - All Stories
4 hours ago

Popular open-source audio editing software Audacity is facing "spyware" allegations from users for recent privacy policy changes that suggest the desktop app is collecting user data and sharing it with third parties, including state regulators where applicable.

Two months ago, Audacity was acquired by Muse Group, which owns other audio-related projects including the Ultimate Guitar website and the MuseScore app. According to Fosspost, changes to the privacy policy section on the Audacity website indicate that several personal data collection mechanisms have since been added by the parent company.

The type of data collected now includes the computer's processor, operating system and version, the user's IP address, and any crash reports, fatal error codes and messages generated by their machine. More concerning perhaps is the inclusion of a vague section listing data that must be collected "for legal enforcement, litigation, and authorities' requests (if any)."

The storage of said data is located in servers in the U.S., Russia, and the European Economic Area. For example, IP addresses are stored in an identifiable way for a day before being hashed and then stored in servers for a year, leaving users identifiable via government data requests.

In addition, the new policy prevents people under the age of 13 from using the software, which is a violation of the GPL license that Audacity uses.

Understandably, the policy changes have upset Audacity users, who have taken to Reddit and GitHub to question why an offline desktop app needs to "phone home" at all, and there is already discussion about forking Audacity into a separate open-source project that's free from the Muse Group's ownership and questionable data collection practices.
This article, "Audacity 'Spyware' Claims Follow Privacy Policy Changes By New Owner" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums
 

jae

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I thought everyone just pirated Audition?
 

Blumlein 88

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I await the fork.
The new owners must be crazy to think this wouldn't poison the software to everyone.
 

Ron Texas

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The one I downloaded a few weeks ago, 3.01 did not have telemetry. My understanding is it can be disabled in preferences.
 

_thelaughingman

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Sad tale about how FOSS software is being bought out or sold to for profit companies that have nothing but nefarious ideas on how to collect data to "improve product" but serve absolutely no purpose for the functionality of the product.
 

Katji

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I would assume nothing.

Audacity is uprooted from my computer.
Well now that you mention it, I was thinking I'm pretty sure Audacity is what I wiped out a few weeks ago...I had the install file, tried it, got the latest version, it gave me shxt, harrassed me or something, so I removed all trace of it.
 

mhardy6647

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:(

So... what's out there that does what Audacity does and is better behaved (and/or, ideally, truly "open source")?
 

dpturner

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if you (temporarily) disable networking while using this new version, does the app refuse to work?
 
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