secluded/content/posts/audacity-and-the-telemetry-pull-request.md

---
title: "Audacity and the telemetry pull request"
author: ["Amolith"]
lastmod: 2023-01-27T13:00:37-05:00
tags: ["Open source culture", "Audio editing", "Music", "Drama"]
categories: ["Technology"]
draft: true
---

Five days ago at the time of writing, [Dmitry Vedenko](https://github.com/crsib)
opened a Pull Request (PR) in [Audacity's GitHub
repository](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835) entitled [_Basic
telemetry for the Audacity_.](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835)
About two days later, all hell broke loose. That PR now has over 3.3 thousand
downvotes and more than one thousand comments from nearly 400 individuals. I
started reading the posts shortly after they began and kept up with them over
the following days, reading every single new post. I recognise that few people
are going to feel like wading through over 1k comments so this is my attempt to
provide a summary of the PR itself using the community's code reviews along with
a summary of the various opinions conveyed in the comments.

When I reference comments, I'll provide a footnote that includes a link to the
comment and a link to a screenshot just in case it's removed or edited in the
future.

## Audacity's acquisition

I haven't been able to find _much_ information in this area so forgive me if I'm
scant on details.

On 30 April, a company called [Muse Group](https://mu.se/) acquired
[Audacity.](https://www.audacityteam.org/) According to [their
website](https://mu.se), Muse is the parent company behind many musical
applications and tools. It was founded by Eugeny Naidenov just days before it
acquired Audacity. Before all of this, Eugeny Naidenov founded [Ultimate
Guitar](https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/) (UG) in 1998. The service grew rather
quickly and now has over 300 million users. UG acquired [Dean Zelinsky
Guitars](https://deanzelinsky.com/) in 2012, [Agile
Partners](http://agilepartners.com/) in 2013,
[MuseScore](https://musescore.org/) in 2017, and
[Crescendo](http://trycrescendo.com/) in 2018. Muse Group was established in
2021 and it seems as if all of the services UG acquired were (or will be)
transferred to Muse Group, as well as UG itself. Immediately following its
establishment, Muse not only acquired Audacity but also
[StaffPad.](https://www.staffpad.net/)

I say 30 April because that's when Muse published their [press
release](https://mu.se/newsroom/tpost/6dhedma301-muse-group-acquires-audacity-expanding-c)
and when Martin Keary (Tantacrul) published a video entitled [_I’m now in charge
of Audacity. Seriously._](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMWNvwLiXIQ) According
to his comment,[^fn:1] Martin will help with proposing Audacity's roadmap and
many of its future features as well as working with the community. This has been
his role with MuseScore since he joined that project and he will be continuing
it here.

`-----BEGIN PERSONAL OPINION-----`

Looking at [his website,](https://www.martinkeary.com/) I also suspect he will
play a large role in redesigning Audacity's interface. Considering that he was
instrumental in designing [the best mobile interface I've ever had the absolute
pleasure of experiencing,](https://www.martinkeary.com/#/ubuntu-touch-os/) I
have high hopes that this is the case.

`------END PERSONAL OPINION------`

## Telemetry implementation

### Implementation Basics

A few days after the acquisition, a PR was opened that adds _Basic telemetry for
the Audacity_. This implementation collects "application opened" events and
sends those to Yandex to estimate the number of Audacity users. It also collects
session start and end events, errors for debugging, file used for import and
export, OS and Audacity versions, and the use of effects, generators, and
analysis tools so they can prioritise future improvements. Sending this data
would be optional and the user would be presented with a dialogue the first time
they launch the application after installation or after they update to the
including release. This description was mostly copied directly from [the PR
description
itself.](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#issue-629891447)

### Frontend Implementation

This is fairly straightforward and a pretty standard UI for prompting users to
consent to analytics and crash logging. This section is included because the
community has strong opinions regarding the language used and its design, but
that will be discussed later. The screenshot below is copied directly from the
PR.

{{< figure src="~/repos/sites/secluded/static/assets/pngs/audacity-pr/consentdialogue.png" link="~/repos/sites/secluded/static/assets/pngs/audacity-pr/consentdialogue.png" >}}

### Backend Implementation

Many of the code reviews include the reviewer's personal opinion so I will
summarise the comment, provide the code block in question, and link directly to
the comment in a footnote.[^fn:2]

```c
  if (!inputFile.Write (wxString::FromUTF8 (ClientID + "\n")))
    return false;
```

[Lines 199-200 of
TelemetryManager.cpp](https://github.com/crsib/audacity/blob/c9264d2478fe2af82aeb6e2a0295b00b3a27ce53/libraries/lib-telemetry/TelemetryManager.cpp#L199-L200)
save the user's unique client ID to a file.[^fn:3] This allows the analytics
tool (in this case, Google Analytics) to aggregate data produced by a single
user.

```c
  def_vars()

    set( CURL_DIR "${_INTDIR}/libcurl" )
    set( CURL_TAG "curl-7_76_0")
```

[Lines 3-6 of
CMakeLists.txt](https://github.com/crsib/audacity/blob/c9264d2478fe2af82aeb6e2a0295b00b3a27ce53/cmake-proxies/libcurl/CMakeLists.txt#L3-L6)
"vendor in" libcurl.[^fn:4] This is when an application directly includes
sources for a utility rather than making use utilities provided by the system
itself.

```c
  ExternalProject_Add(curl
     PREFIX "${CURL_DIR}"
     INSTALL_DIR "${CURL_DIR}"
     GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/curl/curl
     GIT_TAG ${CURL_TAG}
     GIT_SHALLOW Yes
     CMAKE_CACHE_ARGS ${CURL_CMAKE_ARGS}
  )
```

[Lines 29-36 of
CMakeLists.txt](https://github.com/crsib/audacity/blob/c9264d2478fe2af82aeb6e2a0295b00b3a27ce53/cmake-proxies/libcurl/CMakeLists.txt#L29-L36)
add curl as a remote dependency.[^fn:5] This means that the machine building
Audacity from its source code has to download curl during that build.

```c
  S.Id (wxID_NO).AddButton (rejectButtonTitle);
  S.Id (wxID_YES).AddButton (acceptButtonTitle)->SetDefault ();
```

[Lines 93-94 of
TelemetryDialog.cpp](https://github.com/crsib/audacity/blob/c9264d2478fe2af82aeb6e2a0295b00b3a27ce53/src/telemetry/TelemetryDialog.cpp#L93-L94)
add buttons to the dialogue asking the user whether they consent to data
collection.[^fn:6] `SetDefault` focuses the button indicating that the user does
consent. This means that if the user doesn't really look at the dialogue and
presses Spacebar or Enter, or if they do so accidentally by simply bumping the
key, they unintentionally consent to data collection. If the user desires, this
can later be changed in the settings menu. However, if they weren't aware what
they were consenting to _or that they did consent_, they won't know to go back
and opt out.

There are other problems with the code that include [simple
mistakes,](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#discussion_r628816050)
[styling that's inconsistent with the rest of the
project,](https://github.https//github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#discussion_r628774985)
[unhandled return values resulting in skewed
data,](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#discussion_r628500849) [use
of inappropriate
functions,](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#discussion_r628792423)
and [spelling errors in the
comments.](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#discussion_r628818054)
I believe these are less important than those above so they won't be discussed.

## Community opinions

There were many strong opinions regarding both the frontend and backend
implementations of this PR, from the wording of the dialogue and highlighting
the consent button to devices running something other than Windows and macOS not
being able to send telemetry and thus skewing the data that _was_ collected.

### Opinions on the frontend

Really, the only frontend here is the consent dialogue. However, there are
_many_ comments about it, the most common of which is probably that the wording
is not only too vague[^fn:7] but also inaccurate.[^fn:8] The assertion that
Google Analytics are not anonymous and any data sent can be trivially
de-anonymised (or de-pseudonymised) is repeated many times over. Below are a few
links to comments stating such. I searched for the term _"anonymous"_, copied
relevant links, and stopped when my scrollbar reached halfway down the page.

- [r628156527](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#discussion_r628156527)
- [833969780](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#issuecomment-833969780)
- [833969933](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#issuecomment-833969933)
- [r627995927](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#discussion_r627995927)
- [834358022](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#issuecomment-834358022)
- [834377549](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#issuecomment-834377549)
- [834382007](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#issuecomment-834382007)
- [834385463](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#issuecomment-834385463)
- [834405825](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#issuecomment-834405825)
- [834531779](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#issuecomment-834531779)
- [834546874](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#issuecomment-834546874)
- [834638000](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#issuecomment-834638000)

The next most pervasive comment is regarding the consent buttons at the bottom
of the dialogue where users opt in or out.[^fn:9] Many individuals call this
design a _dark pattern_. Harry Brignull, a UX specialist focusing on deceptive
interface practises, describes dark patterns as [_tricks used in websites and
apps that make you do things that you didn't mean
to_.](https://www.darkpatterns.org/) The dark pattern in this situation is the
opt-in button being highlighted. Many community members assert that users will
see the big blue button and click it without actually reading the dialogue's
contents. They just want to record their audio and this window is a distraction
that prevents them from doing so; it needs to get out of the way and the
quickest way to dismiss it is clicking that blue button. Below is a list of some
comments criticising this design.

- [834286641](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#issuecomment-834286641)
- [834358022](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#issuecomment-834358022)
- [834399813](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#issuecomment-834399813)
- [834479968](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#issuecomment-834479968)
- [835250737](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#issuecomment-835250737)
- [835253882](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#issuecomment-835253882)
- [835291066](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#issuecomment-835291066)
- [835445481](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#issuecomment-835445481)

Another issue that was brought up by a couple of individuals was the lack of a
privacy policy.[^fn:10] The consent dialogue links to one, but, at the time of
writing, one does not exist at [the provided
URL.](https://www.audacityteam.org/contact/privacy-policy/) I have [archived the
state of the
page](https://web.archive.org/web/20210510012924/https://www.audacityteam.org/contact/privacy-policy/)
in case that changes in the future.

### Opinions on the backend

```c
  if (!inputFile.Write (wxString::FromUTF8 (ClientID + "\n")))
    return false;
```

The issue many individuals take with this snippet is saving the `ClientID`. Say
an individual has an odd file that causes Audacity to crash any time they try to
open it. Say they attempt to open it a hundred times. Without giving the client
a unique ID, it could look like there are 100 people having an issue opening a
file instead of just the one. However, by virtue of each installation having an
entirely unique ID, this telemetry _is not anonymous_. Anonymity would be
sending statistics in such a way that connecting those failed attempts to a
single user would be impossible. At best, this implementation is _pseudonymous_
because the client is given a random ID, you don't have to sign in with an
account or something.

```c
  def_vars()

    set( CURL_DIR "${_INTDIR}/libcurl" )
    set( CURL_TAG "curl-7_76_0")
```

Timothe Litt's comment gives a good description of why "vendoring in" libcurl is
a bad idea[^fn:11] and Tyler True's comment gives a good overview of the pros
and cons of doing so.[^fn:12] Many people take issue with this _specifically_
because it's libcurl. Security flaws in it are _very_ common and Audacity's copy
would need to be _manually_ kept up to date with every upstream release to
ensure none of its vulnerabilities can be leveraged to compromise users. If the
Audacity team was going to stay on top of all of the security fixes, they would
need to release a new version every week or so.

```c
  ExternalProject_Add(curl
     PREFIX "${CURL_DIR}"
     INSTALL_DIR "${CURL_DIR}"
     GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/curl/curl
     GIT_TAG ${CURL_TAG}
     GIT_SHALLOW Yes
     CMAKE_CACHE_ARGS ${CURL_CMAKE_ARGS}
  )
```

The problem with downloading curl at build-time is that it's simply disallowed
for many Linux- and BSD-based operation systems. When a distribution builds an
application from source, its build dependencies are often downloaded ahead of
time and, as a security measure, the build machine is cut off from the internet
to prevent any interference. Because this is disallowed, the build will fail and
the application won't be available on those operation systems.

Note, however, that these build machines would have the option to disable
telemetry at build-time. This means the machine wouldn't attempt to download
curl from GitHub and the build would succeed but, again, telemetry would be
disabled for anyone not on Windows or macOS. This defeats the whole purpose of
adding telemetry in the first place.

```c
  S.Id (wxID_NO).AddButton (rejectButtonTitle);
  S.Id (wxID_YES).AddButton (acceptButtonTitle)->SetDefault ();
```

There was a lot of feedback about the decision to highlight the consent button
but that was mentioned up in the frontend section; I won't rehash it here.

### Broader and particularly well-structured comments

These are simply some comments I feel deserve particular attention.

From SndChaser...

- [834037351](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#issuecomment-834037351)
-

## The Audacity team's response

---

## The privacy policy modification

<https://github.com/audacity/audacity/issues/1213#issuecomment-875274890>

[^fn:1]:
    [Link to the
    comment](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#issuecomment-836069326)
    and [link to the screenshot](/assets/pngs/audacity-pr/tantacrulrole.png)

[^fn:2]:
    Note that because I am not a C programmer, these reviews might not be
    entirely accurate and I wouldn't be able to catch the reviewer's error. I am
    relying on other community members to catch issues and comment on them; none
    of the reviews I link to have such comments so I'm assuming they are
    correct.

[^fn:3]:
    [Link to the
    review](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#discussion_r627993755) and
    [link to the screenshot](/assets/pngs/audacity-pr/writeanalyticsid.png)

[^fn:4]:
    [Link to the
    review](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#discussion_r628005925) and
    [link to the screenshot](/assets/pngs/audacity-pr/vendorcurl.png)

[^fn:5]:
    [Link to the
    review](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#discussion_r628008821) and
    [link to the screenshot](/assets/pngs/audacity-pr/externaldependency.png)

[^fn:6]:
    [Link to the
    review](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#discussion_r628124998) and
    [link to the screenshot](/assets/pngs/audacity-pr/defaultconsentbutton.png)

[^fn:7]:
    [Link to the
    comment](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#discussion_r627756976)
    and [link to the screenshot](/assets/pngs/audacity-pr/vaguedialogue.png)

[^fn:8]:
    [Link to the
    comment](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#discussion_r627764300)
    and the screenshot is the same as previous

[^fn:9]:
    [Link to the
    comment](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#issuecomment-834286641)
    and [link to the screenshot](/assets/pngs/audacity-pr/darkpattern.png)

[^fn:10]:
    [Link to the
    comment](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#discussion_r627762185)
    and [link to the screenshot](/assets/pngs/audacity-pr/missingprivacypolicy.png)

[^fn:11]:
    [Link to the
    comment](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#issuecomment-834451187)
    and [link to the screenshot](/assets/pngs/audacity-pr/privatelibcurl.png)

[^fn:12]:
    [Link to the
    comment](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835#issuecomment-834010117)
    and [link to the screenshot](/assets/pngs/audacity-pr/vendorproscons.png)