GarageBand ’09 5.1 Offers Security Fix
Apple has released GarageBand ’09 5.1 to fix a security-related bug in the popular audio editing software, enhance a few features, and address other issues.
Most notably, GarageBand ’09 5.1 fixes an issue that could lead to your Internet activity being tracked by third parties without your knowledge. Previously, when opened, GarageBand ’09 would change Safari’s preferences to accept cookies always. The default cookie setting, which offers additional privacy, is that cookies are accepted only from sites you visit – see Wikipedia’s discussion of third-party cookies for more information. While GarageBand ’09 5.1 no longer makes this mistake, if you’ve run a previous version of GarageBand ’09, you should confirm that your cookie settings are set as you wish in the Security view of Safari’s Preferences window.
In addition to fixing this bug, the GarageBand ’09 5.1 update “addresses general compatibility issues, improves overall stability, and fixes a number of other minor issues.” Those minor changes include the added capability to add GarageBand track effects and Audio Units to a guitar track, enhanced Apogee audio interface support, better access to audio monitoring settings, and speedier switching to full screen in Magic GarageBand.
Apple recommends the 139.3 MB update for all GarageBand ’09 users, and it is available via Software Update or from the Apple Support Downloads site.
I'm still trying to figure out why GarageBand would need to fiddle with Safari's cookie settings. Does NOT sound good to me.
Best I can guess, and it's just a guess, is that it has something to do with buying the lessons online.
I suspect it also has to do (and maybe only to do) with tracking which Free tutorials/help videos have been seen.
I would guess (and, like Adam, I'm just theorizing) that the cookies needed to be active for buying lessons. Although that's all done within the app, if I remember correctly, it probably uses Webkit, and Safari is the interface for Webkit settings.