Audacity’s new privacy update has people back-peddling from the free audio editor

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Audacity, a beloved free audio editor used all over the world, now has people back-peddling from the editor as its updated privacy policy seems rather intrusive. Some people are going as far as to call it spyware.

First reported by FOSS Post, Audacity’s new privacy policy page that was updated over the weekend includes many troubling updates. One of the major ones being that Audacity can provide data to state regulators and law enforcement where people live.

In addition, data storage, which is typically handled in Europe, can now be shared with its main office in Russia and “external counsel” in the US. This, coupled with the fact that IP addresses of users are stored for one day, is concerning.

Finally, as part of this update, Audacity gives itself the right to share personal data with staff members, law enforcement (as mentioned above), auditors, advisors, and potential buyers.

In response to the outrage, someone from Audacity has since come out to say that its new policy has “unclear phrasing” and that it is working to rectify it. They then go on to clarify that they “do not and will not” sell “ANY” data with third parties.

All in all, it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Will the updated be enough to bring concerned users back, or was the original privacy update too damaging?

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