[Discuss] Audacity EULA change for the worse

David Kramer david at thekramers.net
Sun Jul 4 17:31:37 EDT 2021


 From my twitter feed:

PSA: If you use Audacity, the new owners just updated the terms of 
service so they can collect data on you, including for very open-ended 
"legal enforcement"; and then sell it to "potential buyers" all without 
your consent

https://www.ghacks.net/2021/07/04/audacity-controversy-continues-with-newly-published-privacy-notice/

The last couple of months have been anything but pleasant for the new 
owners of the open source audio editor Audacity. It all began in May 
2020 with news that Audacity was acquired by MuseGroup; what acquired 
meant exactly was not made clear back then, considering that Audacity 
was an open source project.


An update to the Desktop Privacy Notice 
<https://www.audacityteam.org/about/desktop-privacy-notice/> was 
published in July 2021, and it too is generating uproar.  The note lists 
the data that Audacity is collecting as well as the reason for 
collecting the data, with whom the data is shared and under which 
circumstances, how the data is protected, and how it is stored and deleted.

The following data is or may be collected by Audacity:

  * App Analytics and App Improvements:
      o OS version
      o User country based on IP address
      o OS name and version
      o CPU
      o Non-fatal error codes and messages (i.e. project failed to open)
      o Crash reports in Breakpad MiniDump format
  * For legal enforcement
      o Data necessary for law enforcement, litigation and authorities’
        requests (if any)




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