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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

1. "takyon" - https://soylentnews.org/~takyon/
2. "Audacity facing scrutiny after new privacy policy allows data collection, makes app 13+" - https://www.notebookcheck.net/Audacity-facing-scrutiny-after-new-privacy-policy-allows-data-collection-makes-app-13.549081.0.html
3. "Muse Group" - https://mu.se/
4. "new privacy policy" - https://www.audacityteam.org/about/desktop-privacy-notice/
5. "did not previously" - https://web.archive.org/web/20210115003224/https://www.audacityteam.org/about/
6. "Audacity has been acquired by Muse Group, which also owns MuseScore and Ultimate Guitar" - https://www.musictech.net/news/industry/audacity-acquired-muse-group-ultimate-guitar-musescore/
7. "Audio editor Audacity has the audacity to add telemetry collection -- and users are not happy" - https://betanews.com/2021/05/08/audacity-gains-telemetry/
8. "Telemetry Debate Rocks Audacity Community In Open Source Dustup" - https://hackaday.com/2021/05/17/telemetry-debate-rocks-audacity-community-in-open-source-dustup/
9. "Audacity reverses course on plans to add opt-in telemetry after outcry" - https://www.zdnet.com/article/audacity-reverses-course-on-plans-to-add-opt-in-telemetry-after-outcry/
10. "Audio editor Audacity denies spyware accusations" - https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-57721967
11. "Original Submission" - https://soylentnews.org/submit.pl?op=viewsub&subid=49714

printed from SoylentNews, Audacity Faces Scrutiny After New Owners Publish a Privacy Policy Allowing Data Collection on 2023-06-06 09:28:48