Is Audacity Really Spyware?
Image : Hernan E. Schmidt ( Shutterstock )  Audacity is an open-source audio editor popular among podcasters and musicians. In May 2021, Audacity was acquired by Muse group, and this is where the story begins. Advertisement  On July 2, Muse Group quietly updated Audacitys privacy policy with new terms copied straight from the Muse Groups own privacy policy. The new privacy policy states that the app will collect limited personal information to improve the application, and notes the company may share your personal data with law enforcement and sell it to potential buyers. According to FossPost:  The parent company is a multi-national company and it has been trying to start a data-collection mechanism in the software. While Audacity is nothing more than a desktop program, its developers want to make it phone home with various data taken from users machines.    Audacity doesnt have accounts or profiles, so it doesnt know your name, email address, or other personal information. But it will collect things like your IP address, OS version, OS name, CPU details, error codes, and crash reports. In the For Legal Enforcement section, the policy says Data necessary for law enforcement, litigation and authorities requests (if any). This is ambiguous and up for interpretation. Real IP addresses are stored for one day, and then they are hashed. But that may be enough for local governments to find your location using a data request. The data is stored in European Economic Area, but personal data might be occasionally shared to the groups head office in Russia and external counsel in the United States. This means the company will have to comply with data requests from both Russia and the United States. Another concerning part is how Audacity outright says minors under the age of 13 should not use the application, because minors cant consent to privacy policies in GDPR regions. Advertisement  As it stands, theres no evidence to suggest Audacity is leaking your private information, or the audio that youre using in Audacity, to any third parties or governments. But just the fact that Audacity has this new privacy policy (without an opt-out) is upsetting news for many users who feel an offline, open-source audio editor developed and supported by volunteers shouldnt be collecting user data. If that is your stance, it would be best to discontinue using Audacity, or to use an older version (the new privacy policy kicks in with the 3.0 update). You can also try switching to another audio editor like Reaper, or Dark Audacity (which is based on an older version of Audacity, with a more modern interface). Advertisement  [VIA: Fosspost]