Warning, the audacity is spying on you | geek magazine

Musicians and other content creators inevitably remember the audacity. Open source audio recording software has long been considered the standard for inexpensive recording, audio editing experimentation, and the many effects available. It’s still up to date and freely available…but you should probably consider an alternative.

Our colleagues from Fopost Today the software was unveiled. Since changing its owner last May, Audacity has been very curious.

Change the atmosphere of boldness

Last May, the Russian company Muse Group bought Audacity. The software, which is very popular, remains open source nonetheless. Therefore, the company decided to collect the personal data of its users in order to make a return on its investment, reports Fopost.

At least Muse Group has the advantage of making its intentions clear. In the latest Audacity Terms of Use, we can read that the software will collect certain data about its users, such as the operating system used, the country in which it is used, IP addresses, or even Data necessary for law enforcement, disputes, and requests from the authorities. “

The company specifies that this data will be stored in the European Economic Area, but that could very well be done “Delivery of all user data to the regulators of the state where it is located”. In other words, this data can be shared with “our main office in Russia and our external advisor in the United States”, but also with “Potential Buyers”Regulators, courts, etc. Another change: Bold is no longer allowed for those under the age of 13.

Organized rebellion

in forums reddit Based on githubInternet users are rebelling against this new policy. In fact, this is not much different from the data sets that often occur in the application environment. However, the terminology used by the Muse Group remains vague enough to cause concern.

Above all, change may seem harsh for software that still presents itself today as open source and that has a certain legacy in this field. Some have already embarked on the goal of creating a truly open source alternative to Audacity.