The famous open source audio manipulation program was acquired by a
company named Muse Group two months ago.

The same company owns other projects in its portfolio such as Ultimate
Guitar (Famous website for Guitar enthusiasts) and MuseScore (Open
source music notation software).

Ever since, Audacity has been a heated topic.

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.

The updated privacy policy page (which was uploaded 2 days ago) for
Audacity includes a wide range of data collection mechanisms. It states
for example that it can hand any user data to state regulators where it
is located:

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

Dr. Noah Bodie wrote:
> The famous open source audio manipulation program was acquired by a
> company named Muse Group two months ago.
>
> The same company owns other projects in its portfolio such as Ultimate
> Guitar (Famous website for Guitar enthusiasts) and MuseScore (Open
> source music notation software).
>
> Ever since, Audacity has been a heated topic.
>
> 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.
>
> The updated privacy policy page (which was uploaded 2 days ago) for
> Audacity includes a wide range of data collection mechanisms. It states
> for example that it can hand any user data to state regulators where it
> is located:
>
> Read more...
> https://fosspost.org/audacity-is-now-a-spyware/
>
New privacy policy is completely unacceptable! - Issue #1213

https://github.com/audacity/audacity/issues/1213

On 05/07/2021 04:43, Andrei Z. wrote:
> Dr. Noah Bodie wrote:
>> The famous open source audio manipulation program was acquired by a
>> company named Muse Group two months ago.
......
>> The updated privacy policy page (which was uploaded 2 days ago) for
>> Audacity includes a wide range of data collection mechanisms. It
>> states for example that it can hand any user data to state regulators
>> where it is located:
>>
>> Read more...
>> https://fosspost.org/audacity-is-now-a-spyware/
>>
> New privacy policy is completely unacceptable! - Issue #1213
>
> https://github.com/audacity/audacity/issues/1213

How does this square with the statement at
https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/faq_about_audacity.html#spyware
that audacity is not spyware? Or is 'audacityteam' something different?

But if someone is playing fast and loose with licensing, presumably the
project will fork pretty quickly??

Shame; I've used it since long-gone XP days.

--
Mike Scott
Harlow, England

On 04/07/2021 20:58, Dr. Noah Bodie wrote:
> The famous open source audio manipulation program was acquired by a
> company named Muse Group two months ago.
>
> The same company owns other projects in its portfolio such as Ultimate
> Guitar (Famous website for Guitar enthusiasts) and MuseScore (Open
> source music notation software).
>
> Ever since, Audacity has been a heated topic.
>
> 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.
>
> The updated privacy policy page (which was uploaded 2 days ago) for
> Audacity includes a wide range of data collection mechanisms. It states
> for example that it can hand any user data to state regulators where it
> is located:
>
> Read more...
> https://fosspost.org/audacity-is-now-a-spyware/
>

Cant you block it from going online?

On 05/07/2021 11:24, Mike Scott wrote:
> On 05/07/2021 04:43, Andrei Z. wrote:
>> Dr. Noah Bodie wrote:
>>> The famous open source audio manipulation program was acquired by a
>>> company named Muse Group two months ago.
> .....
>>> The updated privacy policy page (which was uploaded 2 days ago) for
>>> Audacity includes a wide range of data collection mechanisms. It
>>> states for example that it can hand any user data to state regulators
>>> where it is located:
>>>
>>> Read more...
>>> https://fosspost.org/audacity-is-now-a-spyware/
>>>
>> New privacy policy is completely unacceptable! - Issue #1213
>>
>> https://github.com/audacity/audacity/issues/1213
>
>
> How does this square with the statement at
> https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/faq_about_audacity.html#spyware
> that audacity is not spyware? Or is 'audacityteam' something different?
>

Depends on the definition of spyware, they just say they will never
bundle offers or other software with it.

> But if someone is playing fast and loose with licensing, presumably the
> project will fork pretty quickly??
>
> Shame; I've used it since long-gone XP days.
>

On 7/5/21 6:25 AM, this is what Dex wrote:
> On 04/07/2021 20:58, Dr. Noah Bodie wrote:
>> The famous open source audio manipulation program was acquired by a
>> company named Muse Group two months ago.
>>
>> The same company owns other projects in its portfolio such as Ultimate
>> Guitar (Famous website for Guitar enthusiasts) and MuseScore (Open
>> source music notation software).
>>
>> Ever since, Audacity has been a heated topic.
>>
>> 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.
>>
>> The updated privacy policy page (which was uploaded 2 days ago) for
>> Audacity includes a wide range of data collection mechanisms. It states
>> for example that it can hand any user data to state regulators where it
>> is located:
>>
>> Read more...
>> https://fosspost.org/audacity-is-now-a-spyware/
>>
>
> Cant you block it from going online?
Just unplug from the internet while using the application.

--
Linux Mint Cinnamon 20.1 64bit, Dell Inspiron 5570 laptop
Quad Core i7-8550U, 16G Memory, 512G SSD, 750G & 1TB HDDs
*I collect teddy bears.

On 7/4/21 3:58 PM, Dr. Noah Bodie wrote:
> The famous open source audio manipulation program was acquired by a
> company named Muse Group two months ago.
>
> The same company owns other projects in its portfolio such as Ultimate
> Guitar (Famous website for Guitar enthusiasts) and MuseScore (Open
> source music notation software).
>
> Ever since, Audacity has been a heated topic.
>
> 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.
>
> The updated privacy policy page (which was uploaded 2 days ago) for
> Audacity includes a wide range of data collection mechanisms. It
> states for example that it can hand any user data to state regulators
> where it is located:
>
> Read more...
> https://fosspost.org/audacity-is-now-a-spyware/
>
As a point of reference which version pre-dates all these changes?

Using v 2.2.1 here in Mint.

On Mon, 05 Jul 2021 11:25:39 +0100, Dex wrote:
> On 04/07/2021 20:58, Dr. Noah Bodie wrote:
>> The famous open source audio manipulation program was acquired by a
>> company named Muse Group two months ago.
>>
>>> Read more...
>> https://fosspost.org/audacity-is-now-a-spyware/
>>
>
> Cant you block it from going online?

I would think you could use a network sniffer tool,
(tcpdump, wireshark, ettercap, Tethereal,...)
to get the ip address, feed it to nslookup to get
the site name to add to /etc/host with 127.0.1.xxx,
or your named service, or firewall.

You might try "strings /usr/bin/audacity" to see if
you can see the site name.

On 7/5/21 9:24 AM, this is what TheSidhe wrote:
> On 7/4/21 3:58 PM, Dr. Noah Bodie wrote:
>> The famous open source audio manipulation program was acquired by a company named Muse Group two months ago.
>>
>> The same company owns other projects in its portfolio such as Ultimate Guitar (Famous website for Guitar enthusiasts) and MuseScore (Open
>> source music notation software).
>>
>> Ever since, Audacity has been a heated topic.
>>
>> 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.
>>
>> The updated privacy policy page (which was uploaded 2 days ago) for Audacity includes a wide range of data collection mechanisms. It
>> states for example that it can hand any user data to state regulators where it is located:
>>
>> Read more...
>> https://fosspost.org/audacity-is-now-a-spyware/
>>
> As a point of reference which version pre-dates all these changes?
>
> Using v 2.2.1 here in Mint.
>
Was going to ask the same thing, I just froze my version is package manager.
I'm on 2.3.3 Mint 20.1

--
Linux Mint Cinnamon 20.1 64bit, Dell Inspiron 5570 laptop
Quad Core i7-8550U, 16G Memory, 512G SSD, 750G & 1TB HDDs
*I collect teddy bears.

Teddy-Bears wrote:
> On 7/5/21 6:25 AM, this is what Dex wrote:
>> On 04/07/2021 20:58, Dr. Noah Bodie wrote:
>>> The famous open source audio manipulation program was acquired by a
>>> company named Muse Group two months ago.
>>>
>>> The same company owns other projects in its portfolio such as Ultimate
>>> Guitar (Famous website for Guitar enthusiasts) and MuseScore (Open
>>> source music notation software).
>>>
>>> Ever since, Audacity has been a heated topic.
>>>
>>> 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.
>>>
>>> The updated privacy policy page (which was uploaded 2 days ago) for
>>> Audacity includes a wide range of data collection mechanisms. It states
>>> for example that it can hand any user data to state regulators where it
>>> is located:
>>>
>>> Read more...
>>> https://fosspost.org/audacity-is-now-a-spyware/
>>>
>>
>> Cant you block it from going online?
> Just unplug from the internet while using the application.
>
firejail --net=none audacity

TheSidhe wrote:

> As a point of reference which version pre-dates all these changes?
>
> Using v 2.2.1 here in Mint.
>

There will probably be a fork pretty soon, called Audiocity:

https://github.com/binaergewitter/audiocity

"Audacity fork without any non-free software or telemetry, as all GPL
software should."

On 7/5/21 2:47 PM, this is what NP2 wrote:
> TheSidhe wrote:
>
>> As a point of reference which version pre-dates all these changes?
>>
>> Using v 2.2.1 here in Mint.
>>
>
> There will probably be a fork pretty soon, called Audiocity:
>
> https://github.com/binaergewitter/audiocity
>
> "Audacity fork without any non-free software or telemetry, as all GPL software should."
>
Wouldn't be such a bad idea. As a community based item, it would be much more upfront and open. I glanced at the github page and it looks
like it well on it's way.

--
Linux Mint Cinnamon 20.1 64bit, Dell Inspiron 5570 laptop
Quad Core i7-8550U, 16G Memory, 512G SSD, 750G & 1TB HDDs

On 05/07/2021 17:13, Andrei Z. wrote:
> Teddy-Bears wrote:
>> On 7/5/21 6:25 AM, this is what Dex wrote:
>>> On 04/07/2021 20:58, Dr. Noah Bodie wrote:
.......
>>> Cant you block it from going online?
>> Just unplug from the internet while using the application.
>>
> firejail --net=none audacity

Not quite that simple. A playback of an old mp3 loaded into audacity
started like that plays wrongly - runs far too fast through the start of
the file to a variable and unpredictable point, then plays normally.
(The mp3 is fine, BTW, with audacity loaded normally)

--
Mike Scott
Harlow, England

NP2 <NP2@somewhere.invalid> wrote in
news:sbvk4e$oa2$1@solani.org:

> TheSidhe wrote:
>
>> As a point of reference which version pre-dates all these
>> changes?
>>
>> Using v 2.2.1 here in Mint.
>>
>
> There will probably be a fork pretty soon, called
> Audiocity:
>
> https://github.com/binaergewitter/audiocity

That should be great! Dig the slight twist on the name.

> "Audacity fork without any non-free software or telemetry,
> as all GPL software should."

I concur.

I found this rather positive article about the 'takeover' of Audacity prior to the noted
privacy policy updates...

https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/05/audacity_profile/

....and then they posted an updated article speaking about it after the change.

https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/05/audacity/

NP2 <NP2@somewhere.invalid> wrote:
>
> There will probably be a fork pretty soon, called Audiocity:
>
> https://github.com/binaergewitter/audiocity

Er...you might want to check the README on that fork a little more
closely *before* recommending people use it.

"Sike I Lied

This fork exist only for the funny name. By well maintained we mean
not maintained at all and we have no intention of doing anything.

Maybe consider checking out a real fork like:

temporary-audacity/audacity
DarkAudacity"

Source: https://github.com/binaergewitter/audiocity#sike-i-lied

(Seriously? "Psych" has been changed to "Sike" now? <sigh>)

Phil
--
AH#61 Wolf#14 BS#89 bus#1 CCB#1 SENS KOTC#4
philb@philb.ca http://philb.ca

Phil Boutros wrote:
> NP2 <NP2@somewhere.invalid> wrote:
>>
>> There will probably be a fork pretty soon, called Audiocity:
>>
>> https://github.com/binaergewitter/audiocity
>
> Er...you might want to check the README on that fork a little more
> closely *before* recommending people use it.

And how was I supposed to know it was a joke? The message that it was
all a lie wasn't there yet when I posted the link, the page still had
the "looking for maintainers!" message, which looked genuine.

Also I did not "recommend" anything, I just said there might be a fork
pretty soon.

Get your own facts straight.

NP2 <NP2@somewhere.invalid> wrote:
>
> And how was I supposed to know it was a joke? The message that it was
> all a lie wasn't there yet when I posted the link, the page still had
> the "looking for maintainers!" message, which looked genuine.

Heh...correct you are. They added the joke disclaimer the day
after you posted!

> Get your own facts straight.

Apologies if I misdirected my post towards you, instead of just
warning the general public at large.

Phil
--
AH#61 Wolf#14 BS#89 bus#1 CCB#1 SENS KOTC#4
philb@philb.ca http://philb.ca

Dr. Noah Bodie wrote:
> The famous open source audio manipulation program was acquired by a
> company named Muse Group two months ago.
>
> The same company owns other projects in its portfolio such as Ultimate
> Guitar (Famous website for Guitar enthusiasts) and MuseScore (Open
> source music notation software).
>
> Ever since, Audacity has been a heated topic.
>
> 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.
>
> The updated privacy policy page (which was uploaded 2 days ago) for
> Audacity includes a wide range of data collection mechanisms. It states
> for example that it can hand any user data to state regulators where it
> is located:
>
> Read more...
> https://fosspost.org/audacity-is-now-a-spyware/
>
Audacity 3.0.3 Released, Official Appimage for Linux / Auto Checking
Updates - UbuntuHandbook

https://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2021/07/audacity-3-0-3-official-appimage-linux/