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Audacity Is Now A Possible Spyware

Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2021 7:58 pm
by FlyingPenguin
I did a little research and the last version before they sold it to Muse was 2.4.2. After it was sold they released 3.0, so you can assume all the 3.x.x versions are questionable.

You can still download the older versions from their legacy download page here: https://www.fosshub.com/Audacity-old.html
Version 2.2.1 was the last one that's guaranteed to work with Windows 7, so I grabbed that and 2.4.2.

I'm just checked my installed copy, and I'm still on v2.1.2, which does everything I need.

There's also a couple of forks in the works.

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

Re: Audacity Is Now A Possible Spyware

Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2021 8:55 pm
by Executioner
Thanks for that update. I think everyone knew they would do this.

Re: Audacity Is Now A Possible Spyware

Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2021 9:09 am
by GuardianAsher
I don't understand why companies think they can get away with this with FOSS software. Figured they would have learned their lesson from OpenOffice and Sun/Oracle.

Re: Audacity Is Now A Possible Spyware

Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2021 9:46 am
by GuardianAsher
Looks like Muse Group responded to the accusations:

Audacity owner Muse Group responds to ‘spyware’ claims regarding the free and open-source audio editor
https://www.musicradar.com/news/audacity-spyware-claims

TL;DR, 'unclear phrasing' in the legal agreements, we're not collecting your data to sell

I don't buy it.

Re: Audacity Is Now A Possible Spyware

Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2021 4:32 pm
by Executioner
There is also this alternative: https://www.ocenaudio.com/

Re: Audacity Is Now A Possible Spyware

Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2021 7:14 pm
by psypher

Re: Audacity Is Now A Possible Spyware

Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2021 4:26 am
by FlyingPenguin
No one said it was spyware yet, but given the history of Muse' parent company, no one trusts them.

Re: Audacity Is Now A Possible Spyware

Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2021 10:25 am
by Err
I think I'm on 2.4.2. I had issues with 3.x not being able to process files longer than 60 minutes. The plugins would crash with no error dialog. I've yet to find another DAW that lets me add track markers to a recording and export them as individual tracks. I tried Reaper but couldn't get my head around it.