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Audacity 3.0 called spyware over data collection changes by new owner

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Re: Audacity 3.0 called spyware over data collection changes by new owner

#31

Post by skinkestek »

IshKebab wrote: post #19
weikju wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) that's whataboutism 2) people complain about Firefox as well and many are avoiding Firefox as a result, blocking Firefox's connection to Mozilla with various tools, etc.

> people complain about Firefox as well Not nearly as vehemently as with Audacity.

If Firefox had told people they would collect data for law enforcement there would be more noise there as well.

There are good and legitimate reasons for collecting user data, but many of us think it should be voluntarily, minimal and at least not shared with anyone for anything but its original purpose.

In fact we had a very interesting court case in Høgsterett (kind of Supreme Court) here last week where it was finally decided that the police could not aquire biological samples from the university of Oslo to help in a missing person investigation as the person in question had not agreed to it, so obviously some very influential judges in one civilized country do agree.

-----

That said, between the I Robot extension, mandatory data collection and the gutting of the extension system Mozilla seems to be on a multi year marathon effort to play all their cards into Googles hands.

Firefox is still my main browser though but to a large degree because the alternatives aren't quite there for me as a power user.

Re: Audacity 3.0 called spyware over data collection changes by new owner

#32

Post by chaosite »

weikju wrote: post #15
chaosite wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What the GP was saying was that there was no essential technical reason for Firefox to send telemetry data to Mozilla (unless you're connecting to Mozilla). And yet, Firefox does this: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/telemetry-clientid

1) that's whataboutism 2) people complain about Firefox as well and many are avoiding Firefox as a result, blocking Firefox's connection to Mozilla with various tools, etc.

Yeah, I agree. Mozilla toes the line, and there are many instances where they got push back for straying too far.

But wouldn't you agree that HN would go apeshit if Mozilla tried to introduce a "law-enforcement" clause like Audacity did?

Re: Audacity 3.0 called spyware over data collection changes by new owner

#33

Post by ArnoVW »

MAGZine wrote: post #13

Seems as though crash reporting is now deemed harmful. Strange take by the community.

I believe the issue is that the update to the T's & C's is worded in a very wide and vague way. If I interpret that in a generous way, it's because their lawyers told them to be generic so as to be "always in compliance". The thinking being, no-one ever reads the conditions anyway. I've seen the same thinking in previous companies where I worked.

The problem arrives when people start actually reading these vague and wide conditions. It's a bit like when you tell your son or daughter to take some money to go to the movies, and when you find out they have taken 500$ they say "don't worry, I won't use it all, but at least I'll be sure to have enough".

If they would have explicitly stated what they were logging, and for what purpose, I think reactions would have been much less.

Personally, I would have asked for permission upon crashing, with a button to show what is being sent.

Re: Audacity 3.0 called spyware over data collection changes by new owner

#34

Post by viraptor »

numpad0 wrote: post #18

Is it like, Audacity is widely used by whistleblowers, so by tracking down its users, authorities could prevent human rights violation from being uncovered? What else are these features useful in context of “law enforcement”?

There's a chance that it's just the wording for CYA situations. They will cooperate with LE either way, so maybe the lawyers decided to put it clearly in the t&c-s.

This really applies to almost every company, since barely anyone will fight LE in your name. It's just rarely spelled out clearly in public.

Re: Audacity 3.0 called spyware over data collection changes by new owner

#35

Post by galgalesh »

MAGZine wrote: post #13

Seems as though crash reporting is now deemed harmful. Strange take by the community.

This is a strawman argument. The policy specifically says the following.

> "data necessary for law enforcement, litigation, and authorities' requests (if any),"

This is very different from "crash reporting".

Re: Audacity 3.0 called spyware over data collection changes by new owner

#37

Post by 0x4d4c »

Ygg2 wrote: post #20
MAGZine wrote: post #13

Seems as though crash reporting is now deemed harmful. Strange take by the community.

Why does crash reporting need my IP address?

Consider multiple similar crash reports from one IP address or subnet - that could indicate, that there is something odd ie. with DNS resolution in particular network (corporate or whatever). But that's the case only for apps, that rely on internet connectivity heavily.

Re: Audacity 3.0 called spyware over data collection changes by new owner

#38

Post by htns »

alkonaut wrote: post #7
villgax wrote: post #2

It's not called a spyware, it turned into a spyware after acquisition

Who would aquire a piece of pretty niche software to use strategically as a spying platform? Is the information that can be gained really worth that much?

Why would anyone acquire it except to turn it into malware? I can't recall a project that wasn't built for commercial success from the start being bought for any other reason. I guess sourceforge stopping malware bundling could count.

Re: Audacity 3.0 called spyware over data collection changes by new owner

#39

Post by lillecarl »

Ygg2 wrote: post #20
MAGZine wrote: post #13

Seems as though crash reporting is now deemed harmful. Strange take by the community.

Why does crash reporting need my IP address?

I agree, but how do you plan on submitting the crash report without submitting your IP address?

Re: Audacity 3.0 called spyware over data collection changes by new owner

#40

Post by bottled_poe »

tpxl wrote: post #8
alkonaut wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who would aquire a piece of pretty niche software to use strategically as a spying platform? Is the information that can be gained really worth that much?

Browser extensions with 10k users are routinely acquired as a "spying platform".

This sounds like rubbish. Any sources for this claim?
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