
Condoleezza Rice Joins Dropbox’s Board - Ryel
http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/09/condoleezza-rice-joins-dropboxs-board/?ncid=rss
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pkinsky
After the outrage generated by Brendan Eich's $1000 donation to prop 8, I
would hope Dropbox associating with one of the people behind the Iraq war
draws a similar response. If anyone's deserving of ostracization, it's war
criminals who are effectively above the law.

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Taylorious
She was Secretary of State not Secretary of Defense. I would hope this whole
Eich fiasco doesn't start a conservative witch hunt in SV. Not that the Eich
thing was really a conservative/liberal issue, but people may try to turn it
into that.

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icegreentea
Heh, may as well get all the facts straight here. She was National Security
Advisor in the lead up to, and first two years of Iraq. The Secretary of State
at that time was Colin Powell. She became Secretary of State in 2005.

Furthermore, being Secretary of State would not absolve her from any
responsibility that people believe she may have. Secretary of State is
incredibly important to any major conflict, probably right after Secretary of
Defense. You may recall that Colin Powell worked quite hard trying to sell the
Iraqi War abroad.

That said, I don't want a witch hunt either.

~~~
fdasfd3
You mean the same war that Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton also sold to the
American public?

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rubyn00bie
Wow... so... it looks like I won't be doing business with Dropbox.

... I imagine they want an "in" with defense/govt contracts and who better
than someone who knows how to get government money spent.

Regardless, if you feel or have felt your data was safe from prying eyes on
dropbox-- after this I'd go somewhere else before that no longer holds true...

I imagine a conversation like, "oh yeah, we'll use Dropbox, we've got $150
million no bid contract ready... but we're going to need something hooked up
at your data center. For reasons of national security we cannot tell you what
it is or what it's doing..."

... though I suppose in general, if you thought data was safe in the cloud
you're already lost.

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nobbyclark
> Dropbox needs people with international experience to help it at once deal
> with foreign governments that have blocked its use — China, for example —
> and as it works to spread a product developed in one country to others that
> are culturally different.

That seems like a pretty weak reason for hiring her on it's own. Would make
more sense to hire her on the grounds of having some clout in Washington so
your file sharing service doesn't end up doing a "Megaupload"

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pkinsky
You're most likely right, but if they were to say that outright it would be
much harder for her to exercise said influence.

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sebular
The techcrunch article suggests that she was picked for her international
experience. It seems to me that if they wanted someone to help make things go
smoothly abroad, they could've picked a somewhat less controversial and
polarizing figure.

On another note, given her former role in government as national security
advisor, this might raise eyebrows regarding domestic spying and how that
affects any privacy that Dropbox claims to provide.

Then again, I have no doubt that they already considered these things, and
chose her anyway. So maybe she is the right person for the job.

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hitchhiker999
How can anyone in 2014 seriously not think that's a slightly suspicious vibe?
Regardless of whether you think these people are war criminals or not, or what
their role was within in former administrations. It is clear she is connected
to things at the highest level.

If you are a person who still trusts these power players; I would sincerely
love to know why...

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jqm
I'm not sure I consider this a positive for Dropbox.

Nor am I sure why they would do this other than they like to suck up famous
people... Guido Van Rossum for instance.

Surely there are less controversial figures that have an intimate knowledge of
international relations and less associated baggage. They probably come at a
better price too.

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Ryel
Is this a move to get Dropbox on every government machine?

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clin_
It's unbelievable the number of people commenting in this thread that don't
comprehend the role of the Secretary of State.

~~~
pohl
Colin Powell was SoS for the 1st term, when we invaded. Rice was National
Security Advisor to the president.

~~~
clin_
My point is that her tenure in the executive branch extended beyond her
involvement in the Iraq War. As SoS, she was also involved in Africa policy,
led a push for proactive diplomacy, etc.

In addition, the comments about hiring Rice to secure government contracts is
absurd in the opposite direction.

