• Audacity Is Now Spyware

    From Teddy-Bears@21:1/5 to this is what TheSidhe on Mon Jul 5 09:48:54 2021
    XPost: alt.os.linux.mint

    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.

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  • From Andrei Z.@21:1/5 to Teddy-Bears on Mon Jul 5 19:13:35 2021
    XPost: alt.os.linux.mint

    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

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  • From NP2@21:1/5 to TheSidhe on Mon Jul 5 20:47:42 2021
    XPost: alt.os.linux.mint

    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."

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  • From Bears@21:1/5 to All on Mon Jul 5 15:18:11 2021
    XPost: alt.os.linux.mint

    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

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  • From Mike Scott@21:1/5 to Andrei Z. on Tue Jul 6 10:59:49 2021
    XPost: alt.os.linux.mint

    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

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  • From DanS@21:1/5 to NP2@somewhere.invalid on Wed Jul 7 18:55:05 2021
    XPost: alt.os.linux.mint

    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/

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  • From Phil Boutros@21:1/5 to NP2@somewhere.invalid on Thu Jul 8 23:33:31 2021
    XPost: alt.os.linux.mint

    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

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  • From NP2@21:1/5 to Phil Boutros on Fri Jul 9 06:52:31 2021
    XPost: alt.os.linux.mint

    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.

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  • From Phil Boutros@21:1/5 to NP2@somewhere.invalid on Sun Jul 11 03:15:43 2021
    XPost: alt.os.linux.mint

    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

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  • From Andrei Z.@21:1/5 to Dr. Noah Bodie on Fri Jul 30 08:34:55 2021
    XPost: alt.os.linux.mint

    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/

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