Some people place too much trust in these company’s ,for example ,a gaming server provider called ESEA injected a bitcoin miner within their csgo game server browser .
Now just any little company but the number 1 choice of pro NA players ,the unbelievable thing is ,nothing happened when ESEA were found out ,in fact they are still going strong today and it’s still the choice of he pro players even after all that shady business of using their customers to mine bitcoin WITHOUT ASKNG

internet browsers are constantly collecting your data ,collating the info and using it to send you ads and who know what else
Many many game clients for example collect info on the games you play ,the settings used and the times the said games are played ,for how long etc etc
The may or may not be written in the tos somewhere but many times it isn’t
Nvidia are another company who install all kinds of telemetry programs without shouting about it ,these can be disabled but not anywhere in the driver settings ,you have to go much deeper

Bandlab may well be doing something similar ,when they first released the assistant there was no option to disable it as a startup entry ,they never even mentioned that it was starting up with your pc ,it was only when complaints started happening that an option appeared
It’s basic in every single program I use to have an option to decline it being a startup program ,that to me was dodgy ,and not being in control of exactly where files get installed is another reason I don’t like it

Thinking or rather trusting these companies who give you free products to not collect your data or in some way get some kind of payback for giving your a free product is stupid and naive
If a product is free ,then you’re the product ,simple as that

My $.0.02...  First, I look at the over $900 I've spent trying to find a DAW to replace my beloved SONAR, and not becoming really crazy with any of them.  Then I look at this "free" deal to continue on with the DAW I know most.  Like many other SONAR people that go way back, I have a tendency to distruss the altruism exhibited by this new free "SONAR for the masses" offer.  Since I was never a socialist/communist I have to wonder what the business model that had come into effect really is.  BandLab is a "for profit company" and, therefore, expects to make a profit on this SONAR move.  Hiring coders and managers (i.e., some of the critical Cakewalk staff) adds to personnel costs. This means that BandLab bought into this with relatively high stakes.  On the other hand, I'm a dreamer, and I want to think that, whatever model Meng has in mind, this is really a utopian move for SONAR.  I don't mind paying for services, access to material, or use of the most recent upgrades.  But, I need to know how much of the apparent altruism is generated.  So, I would appreciate knowing that this new Cakewalk offer isn't just another racket aimed at exploiting my personal buying habits and passing the information to more scrupulous agents.

danbottomburp
Bandlab may well be doing something similar ,when they first released the assistant there was no option to disable it as a startup entry ,they never even mentioned that it was starting up with your pc ,it was only when complaints started happening that an option appeared
It’s basic in every single program I use to have an option to decline it being a startup program ,that to me was dodgy ,and not being in control of exactly where files get installed is another reason I don’t like it

BandLab assistant existed in beta much before BandLab acquired Cakewalk. It was a simple launcher for BandLab web and the load on startup option enabled. When we did the first early access version of CbB we leveraged this version of BA as a mechanism to install CbB instead of Command Center.  The early access version was released to get CbB out as quickly as possible to customers who wanted it since there was no official way to get SONAR anymore. So there was limited testing for the installer. The startup option was fixed along with a many other bugs in a few days after release. It was simply an oversight that was corrected in response to user feedback and not an intent do anything more sinister like you suggest. BA in fact is a simple app that just facilitates easy access to the users BandLab account, loops and apps. It has exactly the same function as Command Center and its not essential to have it running all the time.
 
In case you are unfamiliar with how prior SONAR releases were done we always had an early access release to find and fix problems before release to the general audience. Its not uncommon to have bugs in that release that are fixed prior to the main release.