Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

SoylentNews is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop. Only 17 submissions in the queue.

Audacity Faces Scrutiny After New Owners Publish a Privacy Policy Allowing Data Collection

posted by martyb on Tuesday July 06 2021, @10:22PM   Printer-friendly
from the product-name-fits? dept.

takyon writes:

Audacity facing scrutiny after new privacy policy allows data collection, makes app 13+

Muse Group (the owners of MuseScore and Ultimate Guitar) recently acquired Audacity in early May. On July 2nd, a new privacy policy for the app was posted to the app's website. Audacity did not previously have any sort of privacy policy in place for the app on their website, so there is no prior archived version of this page before its original publishing on July 2nd.

Much of this new privacy policy is harmless and, realistically, only exists for protecting the interests of Muse Group in any instance of legal trouble. However, users are frustrated over some of the choices made in this document.

Notably, the privacy policy includes the following: "The App we provide is not intended for individuals below the age of 13. If you are under 13 years old, please do not use the App." [...] In addition to the concerns raised by educators, the privacy policy seems to imply that if contacted by law enforcement, there is no limitation on what data they may collect.

See also: Audacity has been acquired by Muse Group, which also owns MuseScore and Ultimate Guitar (May 4)
Audio editor Audacity has the audacity to add telemetry collection -- and users are not happy (May 8)
Telemetry Debate Rocks Audacity Community In Open Source Dustup (May 17)
Audacity reverses course on plans to add opt-in telemetry after outcry (May 17)
Audio editor Audacity denies spyware accusations (June 6)

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Audacity Faces Scrutiny After New Owners Publish a Privacy Policy Allowing Data Collection | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 32 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 2, Disagree) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday July 06 2021, @10:59PM (1 child)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 06 2021, @10:59PM (#1153482) Homepage Journal

    Audacity is a multi-track audio editor for Linux/Unix, MacOS and
    Windows. It is designed for easy recording, playing and editing of
    digital audio. Audacity features digital effects and spectrum
    analysis tools. Editing is very fast and provides unlimited
    undo/redo.

    In some of my distro hopping, Audacity was installed by default, instead of something like VLC or whatever. Yeah, it's an editor, but it's also a player.

    --
    Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   0  
       Informative=1, Overrated=1, Disagree=1, Total=3
    Extra 'Disagree' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   2  

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 06 2021, @11:26PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 06 2021, @11:26PM (#1153489)

    It's as much a music player as Microsoft Word is a txt file reader.