Audacity removes text in privacy policy discouraging use by children

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The team behind Audacity has published a new privacy policy. Among other things, the new owner of the audio software removed a passage that urged children under the age of thirteen not to use the app.

Audacity lists what has changed in the updated privacy policy. For example, texts that were unclear have been adjusted and certain sentences should provide more transparency. The text that Audacity is not intended for children under the age of 13 has been removed. The privacy policy, published in early July, stated, with the blunt explanation: “If you are under thirteen years old, please do not use the app.”

On GitHub, users reacted with surprise at this discouragement. It was speculated that it was related to the GDPR, which states that member states can allow only users aged 13 and older to give consent. Others pointed out that the GPLv2 and GPLv3 licenses allowed no restrictions on use.

The policy now also explicitly states that no additional data will be collected for authorities. The previous policy stated that Audacity “collects data necessary for investigation, prosecution and any requests from authorities,” sparking an outcry among users. Furthermore, steps have been taken to ensure that no full IP addresses are stored and no data in error logs that could lead to identification of the user.

In fact, the uproar started in May after Audacity was acquired by Muse Group and soon set out to implement telemetry transmission in the open source software. This plan fell through, but subsequently the proposed privacy policy was criticized. Muse Group now apologizes for the situation.

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