https://www.audacityteam.org/about/desktop-privacy-notice/

Some people now consider it "possible spyware".

https://fosspost.org/audacity-is-now-a-spyware/

What do you think? This is something I wasn't expecting. Not from Audacity, anyway.

Apologies if another thread about this topic exists, I couldn't find one.

 

Who do these guys think they are, Microsoft???

 

Can't believe they had the Audacity to do that.

 

Even worse... they could be shooting to make Google bucks. That notice is so damn obvious. If you are under 13 years old don't use our software. Funny but not funny.

 

the original open-source developers sold it to MuseScore as listed in the link above by kh.

This is a MuseScore initiative, not the original developers who I doubt would have done this.

 

It's sad to see them go, kind of an icon.

It'll be interesting to see just how many continue to use the "new official" download.

 

What's the last version# without the spyware?

 

Time will tell. I reckon most people don't use it professionally or aren't conscious about privacy. They just want something to record audio with, and probably aren't aware (or don't care) about the changes.

For me, the OS already has enough telemetry as it is (TBF you can disable most of it, esp. in Enterprise/LTSC editions). I'll look forward to the forks.

This archive has versions up to 2.4.2; I haven't downloaded from the archive yet (I'm on mobile) but it looks legit
https://archive.org/details/AudacityArchive

 

The first time I read this I misread it as

"....Audioz updates privacy policy..... Now considered spyware.....".

A second of freak out a a couple of frantic re-reads and I was very relieved....

 

There's already multiple forks, but this one seems to be the one that will actually finish and restore it to the original audacity:

Audacium - https://github.com/SartoxOnlyGNU/audacium

That company is now doing damage control. lol
"Update: The developers behind Audacity shared an announcement that their privacy policy page was “misunderstood” due to poor wording in it, and that they will rewrite it to avoid possible confusion. Error reporting and basic system information collection is opt-in, but automatic update checking (which sends your IP address to them at every usage) is opt-out."

 

why is anyone's firewall allowing that? Are you giving this program access to do that? does it masquerade as updater functionality or do you blindly click-thru grant it access to the internet?

sorry. I just assume everything "phones home" and unless I create a rule for it, this outbound stuff is just not allowed. some programs will not function unless allowed, and then I strongly consider deleting them before creating a rule.

data collection is almost exactly in the opposite spirit of freeware; which is why you would trust them not to do it. which is why I would expect it.

 

Last edited: Jul 6, 2021

Disable firewall with an outbound rule

 

they can probably just buy the data from the company who makes your firewall anyway. one stop shopping.

 

Yes and the rest is done by the hacker group "REvil", 70 million ransom to unlock.

" Some 500 Coop supermarket stores in Sweden have been forced to close due to
an ongoing "colossal" cyber-attack affecting organisations around the world."

 

Thanks for mentioning Audacium @ThrashHead.

I've been using Audacity in Linux as an audio editor for Reaper, and installed Dark Audacity in W7 as an alternative audio editor for Reaper, but I prefer Wavosaur because it's faster, more powerful etc. However, they are both useful.

What creeped me out about this privacy policy is generally this: "Data necessary for law enforcement, litigation and authorities’ requests (if any)". That just sounds completely wrong, especially for an open source audio editor. Well, thankfully they are open sourced so there are two forks for now. I wish Dark Audacity gets updated because the last version is 2.3.2.

Cheers!

 

What is the legal basis for this?

"All personal data is stored on servers in the European Economic Area. However, we are occasionally obliged to share personal data with our headquarters in Russia and external consultants in the USA." This also fulfills legal requirements."

Musescore User Agreement – Terms of Service
https://musescore.com/legal/terms

What exactly was being sold at Audacity? (German)
www.onli-blogging.de/2034/Was-genau-wurde-bei-Audacity-verkauf.html

 

Last edited: Jul 6, 2021

I didn't know there was forks of Audacity ... Is there some with the ASIO implementation ?

 

As far as I know, the goal of the fork I posted is to remove all of this telemetry bullshit and restore the software back to be basically a mirror of the original audacity.

So everything audacity had minus the tracking crap.

 

I was gonna ask for a "clean" fork but already answered. Thx guys

 

No - it's not a App, it is the forwarding of user data.

Audacity rejects allegations of spyware Audacity, in turn, has denied the spyware allegations in an interview with BBC News. The company said the only data it will share with users is software updates and error messages. The formulations in the new terms and conditions are the typical legal statements that have to be made in the case of software if there is any form of data exchange. The age restriction was only added to comply with data protection laws. The company collects and stores data in the EU.

They could possibly be shared with the headquarters in Russia. However, this is only intended for cases of Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS), i.e. when attackers deliberately flood a platform with too many requests in order to paralyze the service. Audacity also anonymizes individual IP addresses using hashing technology. They don't want to monetize Audacity, they just want to modernize it.

The new terms and conditions were primarily necessary because the company wanted to update the software much more frequently in order to keep the software up to date and to offer users the best service in the future. As an open source program, Audacity is a popular editing software for podcasters and musicians and currently has around 100 million users worldwide.

www.basicthinking.de/blog/2021/07/06/audacity-spyware-agb/

 

Last edited: Jul 7, 2021