Audacity Denies Claims That It’s Now Spying on Users

Users are concerned about Audacity’s privacy policy, which allows the open-source audio editor to collect personal information. Audacity is currently working to amend its policy in response to user claims that it has become spyware.

Audacity Says That Its Privacy Policy Contains “Unclear Phrasing”

Muse Group acquired Audacity in April 2021. This is most likely what led to Audacity’s recent policy changes.

Audacity has updated its Desktop Privacy Notice to indicate that it will collect information about your operating systems, country, and CPU. However, it is even more alarming that Audacity could also collect information about your operating system, government, and CPU. Sometimes, this information may be sent to Russia’s headquarters.

Audacity’s large userbase was shocked by this revelation. They immediately began to criticize the platform for trying to sell data and “spy” on them. Audacity has denied these claims. Muse Group’s head of strategy, Daniel Ray, posted on GitHub to clarify the situation. He stated:

We are aware that the Privacy Policy is unclear, and the introduction lacks context. This has raised significant concerns about the way we store and use the limited data we have.

Ray clarified that Audacity’s data collection is “very limited,” but still contains your basic system information, optional errors report data, and your IP address. This data is “pseudonymized” and “irretrievable after 24hrs.” In addition, Audacity won’t share your information with law enforcement unless it is “compelled” by a court in a jurisdiction Audacity serves.

Ray says that the introduction of Audacity’s two new features, which allow you to send error reports and automatic updates, led to the creation of the new privacy policy.

Ray stressed that the policy doesn’t apply to offline Audacity. This policy will not apply if Audacity isn’t updated to the latest version (3.0.2.). It doesn’t require data collection.

Is It Time to Use Another Audio Editor?

We don’t know when Audacity plans to release a revised privacy policy or if any of our concerns will be addressed.

Audacity will need to work hard to win back its trust. Users are usually wary of platforms collecting their data, no matter how small. So even though Audacity may not be suitable for you, you may want to read its updated privacy policy before updating it to 3.0.3.