Adding Condoleezza Rice To Dropbox's Board Seems Incredibly Tone Deaf Following NSA Concerns

from the it's-a-competitve-market dept

Thu, Apr 10th 2014 10:44am — Mike Masnick

Dropbox is probably the most well-known of the cloud storage providers out there, and it's angling for an IPO. As such, it recently made some changes in its management, including a bit of news that is getting a fair bit of attention: adding Condoleezza Rice to its board. Rice's consulting firm has apparently been advising the company for the past year, and the announcement says that the former Secretary of State will help Dropbox navigate "international expansion and privacy" issues. While she's certainly qualified to help with international issues, it's the privacy issues that are raising significant concern among many.

“As a country, we are having a great national conversation and debate about exactly how to manage privacy concerns,” Rice says about her new position. “I look forward to helping Dropbox navigate it.”

Except, of course, a big part of that "great national conversation" are revelations that involve warrantless spying -- and Rice was a big part of enabling that warrantless spying. When she was Secretary of State, she defended the warrantless wiretapping program by saying:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice defended Bush's actions, telling "Fox News Sunday" the president had authorized the National Security Agency "to collect information on a limited number of people with connections to al Qaeda."

Except, as we've learned from various leaks since then, the definitions that were used of "limited" and "connections to al Qaeda" in the sentence above are not the same definitions most English speakers would use. The program was not very limited and the necessary connections were barely present. Besides, to this day, no one has given a reasonable explanation for why a warrant shouldn't be used in such situations anyway. If there really are a limited number of people they want info on who have connections to al Qaeda, getting a warrant should be easy enough.

Furthermore, Rice also authorized the NSA to spy on the UN Security Council to find out what they were thinking about the US going to war in Iraq back in 2003.

President Bush and other top officials in his administration used the National Security Agency to secretly wiretap the home and office telephones and monitor private email accounts of members of the United Nations Security Council in early 2003 to determine how foreign delegates would vote on a U.N. resolution that paved the way for the U.S.-led war in Iraq, NSA documents show.

Two former NSA officials familiar with the agency's campaign to spy on U.N. members say then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice authorized the plan at the request of President Bush, who wanted to know how delegates were going to vote. Rice did not immediately return a call for comment.

As for Dropbox, there have certainly been quite a few concerns about how private your data is on the site. When the first slides about PRISM came out, it was noted that Dropbox was about to become a part of the program. And while the fears about PRISM are greatly overstated, Dropbox has been fighting against public perception over this for some time. Dropbox's CEO, Drew Houston, spoke out against the NSA's efforts at the State of the Net conference back in January, and the company recently changed its privacy policies to address concerns about NSA spying. The company has also taken a strong stand saying that it will protect users' data against blanket government requests and backdoors.

Those were all good moves, that should have calmed many people's fears -- but to then appoint Rice to the board, and have her handling "privacy" issues basically blasts a major hole in that. I'm less inclined than some to simply assume this means bad things for Dropbox's privacy efforts in general. But from a public perception standpoint, this move does come across as exceptionally tone deaf by Dropbox. People are already raising concerns, and a basic Twitter search shows a bunch of people both raising concerns and looking for alternatives to Dropbox. And, of course, someone has already set up an entire website about why people should drop Dropbox over this move.

At a time when people around the globe are increasingly worried about American tech firms having too close a connection to the intelligence community, a move like this seems like a huge public relations disaster. While Rice may be perfectly qualified to hold the role and to help Dropbox with the issues it needs help with, it's hard not to believe that there would be others with less baggage who could handle the job just as well.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: condoleeza rice, international expansion, ipo, nsa, privacy, surveillance, warrantless wiretaps
Companies: dropbox

83 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

John Fenderson (profile), 10 Apr 2014 @ 10:49am

This news locked it up for me
My estimation of dropbox just went from "sketchy" to "do not use at all."
[ link to this | view in thread ]
AricTheRed (profile), 10 Apr 2014 @ 10:58am

Press Release: James Clapper announced as new Board Chairman of Dropbox
'Eff it they may as well get a few more "Winners!" added too. Perhaps they need someone with Addonis DNA and Tiger Blood also and next will be Charlie Sheen?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:01am

My first thought
My first thought was "well... that won't help at all"

My second thought was... "gee, I wonder if the MAFIAA will be as quick to sue Dropbox now that she's on the board."

Maybe the ultimate motive isn't the obvious one...lol
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Glen, 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:04am

I just canceled my Dropbox account a couple of weeks ago. Looks like I made the right choice.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:08am

Re: This news locked it up for me
For limited distribution of files, run your own server. For private use, rely on SSH, and create and copy a 'public key' onto your own devices. The only times high capacity file server is needed is for publication, at which point the data should not need protection.
Hint, if a Raspberry Pi does not suffice as the server, you need cloud services.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Chris ODonnell (profile), 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:15am

People seem to forget she was doing her job when she went on the Sunday talk shows and defended warrentless searches and spying. It doesn't make it right, but unfortunately that is how our system operates. If she didn't do that she would been forced to resign to "spend more time with her family" the following Monday.

She may be a bad idea on the Board for a lot of reasons, but for doing her job in the Bush Administration? I don't think that really tells us much about how she will advise on privacy issues as a board member. That said, she is basically a statist, so I'd expect the status quo. Dropbox would be the company to make a stand for user privacy.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
art guerrilla (profile), 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:15am

IF there were any justice in this world...
...she would be in the docket charged with war crimes...
she is slime...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Baldaur Regis (profile), 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:16am

This didn't take long. TechCrunch reports on a petition to drop dropbox.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Baldaur Regis (profile), 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:17am

Re:
Edit: shouda RTFA - link is already there.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
weneedhelp (profile), 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:19am

I just read the headline to a co-worker
He said... "Well, I guess that's another cloud service I wont be using."
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:19am

Ah yes, the genetic fallacy, about what you'd expect from the schizos at Tech Dirt.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Mike Masnick (profile), 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:20am

Re:
People seem to forget she was doing her job when she went on the Sunday talk shows and defended warrentless searches and spying. It doesn't make it right, but unfortunately that is how our system operates. If she didn't do that she would been forced to resign to "spend more time with her family" the following Monday.

She may be a bad idea on the Board for a lot of reasons, but for doing her job in the Bush Administration? I don't think that really tells us much about how she will advise on privacy issues as a board member. That said, she is basically a statist, so I'd expect the status quo. Dropbox would be the company to make a stand for user privacy.

I tried to be clear in the post that my issue is less with what her actual opinions are or for what she'll actually do, but for the public perception aspect of it, given the widespread existing concerns about Dropbox.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
art guerrilla (profile), 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:21am

Re:
...and another authoritarian is outed, thanks sparky...

while working in the gummint, she had a DUTY ABOVE ALL ELSE: to obey and honor the constitution, she did not...

it is not arguable, it is TRUE, that virtually EVERY administration has shat on the constitution for their own convenience; but the kongresskritters and (in)justice department have rolled over on ALL THAT SHIT, such that we HAVE NO 'CHECKS AND BALANCES' any longer, only one like-minded korporate-centric entity which ignores the constitution/law whenever it wishes, and makes up shit the rest of the time...

but, i'm sure big daddy will look after you, just do WHATEVER he says; don't make big daddy mad ! ! !
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:24am

I don't get it. If you didn't drop Dropbox after their PRISM affiliation, why would this be any worse? Is our human cognition still so biased that a face prompts a stronger reaction than a faceless organization?

I guess that would explain why people still don't seem to care about being invisibly surveilled.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:27am

Re:
People seem to forget she was doing her job when she went on the Sunday talk shows and defended warrentless searches and spying.

So, just following orders?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Mike Masnick (profile), 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:27am

Re:
Ah yes, the genetic fallacy

I don't think you know what that means. Nor is it applicable here. As noted in the article pretty clearly (did you read it?) the concern is about how this appears. And the fact that so many people are angry about it appears to justify that concern.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
John Fenderson (profile), 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:28am

Re: Re: This news locked it up for me
Agreed, except for this part: " if a Raspberry Pi does not suffice as the server, you need cloud services."

That's an odd metric. Why is Raspberry Pi the threshold?

I would argue that you almost never need (and should strenuously avoid) third party cloud services. The primary exception is, as you state, if you're distributing something to a lot of people.

If you want the convenience of cloud, it's pretty trivial to run your own cloud server nowadays.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Replicant2019, 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:30am

Response to: Chris ODonnell on Apr 10th, 2014 @ 11:15am
Please, her record is clear, above and beyond her "just doing her job" this past Sunday.

You sound like an NSA apologist shill.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
John Fenderson (profile), 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:32am

Re:
"Is our human cognition still so biased that a face prompts a stronger reaction than a faceless organization?"

Yes, and it will be for as long as we are human.

I was already recommending against dropbox, but choosing her to be on the board elevates them in my mind from a passive go-along-with-the-status-quo kind of company to an active we-don't-care-about-our-users kind of company. One is bad, the other is worse.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
John Fenderson (profile), 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:34am

Re:
"People seem to forget she was doing her job when she went on the Sunday talk shows and defended warrentless searches and spying."

I don't think anybody has forgotten this at all. That's one of the big problems I have with her.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
crazywater (profile), 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:35am

And the leftist witch hunt continues...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:37am

Well, the Snowden leaks did say Dropbox was "coming soon" to PRISM - so I guess it's finally happening.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:38am

Dropbox is only used by the naive and stupid
Everyone who's been paying attention knows better.

For example:

http://it.slashdot.org/story/11/04/08/1838220/Dropbox-Authentication-Insecure-By-Design
and
ht tp://tirania.org/blog/archive/2011/Apr-19.html
and
http://paranoia.dubfire.net/2011/04/how-dropbox-sac rifices-user-privacy-for.html
and
http://www.boingboing.net/2011/04/21/dropboxs-new-securit.html
and
htt p://www.boingboing.net/2011/04/26/dropbox-asks-file-sh.html
and
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110 425/15541514030/dropbox-tries-to-kill-off-open-source-project-with-dmca-takedown.shtml
and
http://hard ware.slashdot.org/story/11/05/15/2157202/Dropbox-Accused-of-Lying-About-Security
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:41am

absurd, look at the current administration if you want to see privacy violations, good grief.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:43am

Re:
That is even worse that she is so flexible to do anything for her advantage. She is definitely not a woman of character.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Rocco Maglio (profile), 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:43am

Careful of the precedent
So you are saying you don't want her on the board, because she supported warrentless surveillance, so you will make the same argument and protest against anyone from the Obama administration when they try to get on boards of tech companies. I am sick of people claiming that they are upset about an issue when they are really just upset that the person was on the wrong team. I was involved in several groups that supported Net neutrality and when Obama was elected the groups disbanded. We still don't have net neutrality.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
steve, 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:45am

rice
maybe they (dropbox) know something you don't.

Now what's really baffling is how SUSAN Rice was appointed National Security Advisor.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:45am

Re: Re: Re: This news locked it up for me
A Raspberry Pi is quite capable of soaking up domestic connection bandwidth, and if its capacity for bandwidth is reached most people would have an unhappy ISP. Besides it is an affordable low power machine. To support more users than a Pi can handle really does requires system administration time and skills, like log reviews.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Steve, 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:45am

Very bad news! Rice is part of the administration that had absolutely no understanding of, nor respect for, the law. This is a very unfortunate development for DropBox.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:48am

Re:
stop thinking in that outdated left/right dogma, they are both sides of the same coin. They are the same, just with a different coat of paint.

Same shit different asshole.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
JWW (profile), 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:50am

Re: Careful of the precedent
Yep.

You have to wonder, if Dropbox were adding Hillary to the board, would we be getting stories denouncing the choice, or would there be stories about how influential she would be and how nice it is to see a prominent woman named to the board of a tech company.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:50am

Re: Re:
People seem to forget she was doing her job when she went on the Sunday talk shows and defended warrentless searches and spying.

Politicians doing just that are why states become totalitarian, they are giving in to the bully in charge. It is what people who prefer power over people, rather than representing them and standing up for the their rights do.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:51am

Re: Careful of the precedent
The only place anyone from the last 3 US administrations belongs is in prison.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:56am

Re: Careful of the precedent
Actually, yeah. Everyone who is or was part of the Obama administration should be banned from the tech sector for the rest of their lives as far as I'm concerned. They've all spent years actively trying to screw over everyone with a computer. They all willingly went along with the plans to undermine internet security. None of them have resigned in the face of the nonstop NSA revelations. They apparently have no issue with the NSA concealing widespread vulnerabilities like Heartbleed from sysadmins so that they can peep on their ex-girlfriends, security consequences from those foreign hackers (you know, the ones they keep grandstanding about to justify everything they do) be damned.
That pariah status you're complaining about is 100% deserved.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
zip, 10 Apr 2014 @ 11:58am

This makes about as much sense as the appointment of Paul Wolfowitz as president of the World Bank, or of John Yoo as law professor at Berkeley University, that bastion of human rights.

Why is it that so many disgraced government officials keep popping up over and over in places where they are unqualified and/or unwelcome? At least Ukraine was on the right track, not afraid to throw that country's criminal leaders in prison.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Killer_Tofu (profile), 10 Apr 2014 @ 12:00pm

Right vs Left has nothing to do with it
Anyone trying to claim these accusations are from the "leftists" or just saying to look at the current administration is completely missing the point. I am pretty sure the whole right vs left thing is merely a distraction at this point. Both parties appear to be acting in the interests of those with power now, to ensure they maintain power and keep that money rolling in. They may not work for the exact same groups, but in both cases they are selling out America.

Really, do you guys saying this is brought up by the left not remember Bush? Do the people saying it was because of Bush not pay attention now? The democrats and republicans are the same in this. Neither values the constitution so stop helping them misdirect people by bringing up arguments about "right vs left" please. This is about what America is supposed to stand for and how all of the asshats are running it these days from "both sides of the aisle".
[ link to this | view in thread ]
mcinsand, 10 Apr 2014 @ 12:08pm

overstated fears
>>"And while the fears about PRISM are greatly overstated, ..."

The way I've been seeing it, every time we think that a certain NSA and/or PRISM fear is 'overstated,' we find out that we had what we feared was actually happening.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
B's Opinion Only (profile), 10 Apr 2014 @ 12:13pm

I have just moved everything out of my DropBox and into my WDCloud.

I have never felt "right" about using DropBox and this was the last straw.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
laughing at you, 10 Apr 2014 @ 12:17pm

Response to: crazywater on Apr 10th, 2014 @ 11:35am
Waaaa, those mean lefties and their darned 1st amendment right to free speech! How dare they bring up the lies of the last administration!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Apr 2014 @ 12:18pm

Re: This news locked it up for me
Sadly, I think I (and many of my friends) agree.

Time to finish setting up the OwnCloud here...

I also use other cloud storage services, which I'll be temporarily moving the dropbox stuff to until I can finish up.

Also, a friend pointed me to this link:

http://www.drop-dropbox.com/
[ link to this | view in thread ]
zip, 10 Apr 2014 @ 12:22pm

Re: Right vs Left has nothing to do with it
Both parties do an effective job exploiting so-called "wedge" issues in order to gain strong support from one half the population, making people believe that they could really care one way or the other on these purely emotional subjects.

But on all the really important issues (like trillion-dollar bank bailouts or feeding the security/military-industrial complex) they act as one unified party - regardless of what they might claim.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Apr 2014 @ 12:25pm

...the definitions that were used of "limited" and "connections to al Qaeda...

Look al Qaeda uses email, the internet, and cell phones. Gasp! So do Americans!

...connection established...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Apr 2014 @ 12:30pm

Re: Careful of the precedent
Would these former Obama administration people be those who defended privacy violations and are now in charge of protecting privacy? If so, hell yes. This is like putting an anti-vaxer in charge of ensuring children get vaccinated.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Apr 2014 @ 12:33pm

Re:
Its more of a anarchist to totalitarian issue, and whether she is maybe too keen on controlling people for a company that has a light hand over what its users do.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
anonymous buzzard, 10 Apr 2014 @ 12:44pm

Re:
"I'm so sorry for your loss, but the hitman was just doing his job."
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Apr 2014 @ 12:47pm

I think asking Condoleezza Rice to protect our privacy is a great idea. Also I'm going to ask the BTK killer to babysit my children! Just because he molested kids and strangled them doesn't mean he isn't a nice guy now.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
PRMan, 10 Apr 2014 @ 12:56pm

Re:
I never had a DropBox account to begin with. Looks like I made the right choice.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Apr 2014 @ 1:16pm

Re: Re: Careful of the precedent
I cannot click 'insightful' enough times.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
John Fenderson (profile), 10 Apr 2014 @ 1:32pm

Re: Careful of the precedent
"so you will make the same argument and protest against anyone from the Obama administration"

Why would you think we wouldn't?

Although I would refine this somewhat. I'll make the same protest against anyone in the Obama administration who had anything to do with, or spoke in support or defense of, the policies and actions of the Obama administration that I believe are egregious. That's not the entirety of the administration. It's also the exact standard I use about the Bush administration and every administration that came before.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
John Fenderson (profile), 10 Apr 2014 @ 1:34pm

Re: overstated fears
Not really. There have been no further revelations about the PRISM program that made it worse than we thought. There have, however, been lots of revelations about other programs that are much, much worse. Which is what that line was alluding to, I believe.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
John Fenderson (profile), 10 Apr 2014 @ 1:35pm

Re:
Be cautious about WDcloud as well.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Bill Owen, 10 Apr 2014 @ 1:48pm

Re: befehl is behfehl
Doing her job. Yeah right.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Screw you, 10 Apr 2014 @ 2:01pm

Apple's dubios board.
Where was the indignation at Al Gore being on the Apple BOD? Clinton used warrent-less wiretapping.

http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/eo/eo-12949.htm

President Clinton clearly explained in his order, "Pursuant to section 302(a)(1) of the (FISA) Act, the Attorney General is authorized to approve physical searches, without a court order, to acquire foreign intelligence information ... ."

Justice Department memos released on April 28, 2004, and written up in the next day�s Washington Times: "Newly released Justice Department memos show that Sept. 11 panel commissioner Jamie S. Gorelick was more intimately involved than previously thought with hampering communications between U.S. intelligence and law-enforcement agencies fighting terrorism.

"As the No. 2 person in the Clinton Justice Department, Ms. Gorelick rejected advice from the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, who warned against placing more limits on communications between law-enforcement officials and prosecutors pursuing counterterrorism cases, according to several internal documents written in summer 1995."

Gorelick�s efforts to hamper communications -- constructing "the wall" between intelligence and law enforcement -- are blamed by some for the U.S. failure to spot the 9-11 plot before it happened. The USA Patriot Act tore down these restrictions -- yet even the ultra-restrictive Gorelick recognized Presidential authority to conduct warrantless "searches for foreign intelligence purposes".

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2004/apr/29/20040429-122228-6538r/

Left wing hypocrisy is overwhelming.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
John Fenderson (profile), 10 Apr 2014 @ 2:35pm

Re: Apple's dubios board.
What does the left wing have to do with it? Can't we just top with this partisan bullshit already?

For my part, it was hard to get all up in arms about Gore being on the Apple board because I already considered Apple to be an awful, immoral, highly objectionable company. There's no room for downward motion there.

I did not have such an estimation of Dropbox. I considered them sketchy, but nowhere near Apple's level of malevolence. So there's a lot of room for downward motion there.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Apr 2014 @ 2:49pm

copy.com
Seems a lot safer, my blocklists on iptables do not alert me of anything with them, and hell, 15gb for free and more as you invite people...

Wuala is great too, from switzerland and end to end encrypted, but the free plan is 5gb only.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Apr 2014 @ 2:56pm

Re: Re: This news locked it up for me
I use and old AMD64 4200+ Dual Core on an Asus a8n sli deluxe motherboard (my ex killer PC that I bought back in 2005 so it would last me 10 years, did 8, for a mail server and sftp server. And I also rent a vps (32 dollars a month) for 500gb of space and 30mbps/30mbps speed which is useful in so many ways I can't even describe it all in 2 minutes of a post.

But yeah, i'm a power user, the other options I posted in another post are good alternatives to casual things like dropbox.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Mike Masnick (profile), 10 Apr 2014 @ 3:20pm

Re: Careful of the precedent
So you are saying you don't want her on the board

No. I didn't say that. I said that it's a bad PR move, and I don't understand why Dropbox would do it.

because she supported warrentless surveillance, so you will make the same argument and protest against anyone from the Obama administration when they try to get on boards of tech companies

Yes, easily. If they were integral to promoting the surveillance state (or bad IP law, or other issues of concern to me).

I am sick of people claiming that they are upset about an issue when they are really just upset that the person was on the wrong team.

I'm curious as to which "team" you think I support? We have never supported any particular team at all. We have regularly called out people on both "teams" when they do something stupid, just as we've celebrated those on both "teams" when they've done good things.

I'm not on any team and this site has never supported any of the major political parties. In fact, we specifically do not name what party anyone is a part of (unless it's central to the story) because doing so immediately leads to idiots making it into a partisan thing.

So, seriously: which team am I on? If you'd like I'm happy to show you where we've criticized both Democrats and Republicans as well as celebrated both Democrats and Republicans.

This has nothing to do with teams.

I was involved in several groups that supported Net neutrality and when Obama was elected the groups disbanded. We still don't have net neutrality.

Out of curiosity, could you point out what net neutrality groups have disbanded? I'd love to hear about that.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
fjpoblam, 10 Apr 2014 @ 3:37pm

Re: I just read the headline to a co-worker
�Yeah, that's another cloud service I won�t be using.�

Yep, so there: I unlinked a bunch of apps and pulled Dropbox off my various devices� With the full understanding that, if I expect to drop every service that hires a somehow unsavory character, I�ll soon not be using the web. Or communicating via known civilized paths in general.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Apr 2014 @ 4:02pm

Re: Re: I just read the headline to a co-worker
Hardly. We had a perfectly fine Internet long before these people showed up, and while their services are trendy, flashy, popular, and hyped like crazy, they're really not necessary. It's quite easy to using DNS RPZ and firewall rulesets to make a lot of them disappear from one's view of the Internet. For example: I don't see China, Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Korea, Vietnam, .info (with a handful of exceptions), Dropbox, Myspace, Flickr, Pinterest, .biz (with a handful of exceptions), .xxx, Eventbrite, Multiply, Scour, Instagram, Zoosk, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, .mobi, .eu or all kinds of other network allocations, TLDs, domains or operations.

Not only does this avoid dealing with a great many unsavory people and operations, but it has enormous security and privacy value: I can't be attacked from any Bolivian network, for example, because they can't even reach me. Same for Facebook -- they're in the firewall too. Bidirectionally, of course.

So let's not lament the loss of an operation or two: most of them are new anyway, few of them will last, they're transient and unimportant. Like Dropbox.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Craig, 10 Apr 2014 @ 7:57pm

Re:
Warrantless searches...

Blatent violation of the 4th amendment and an affront to the human right to privacy or "leftist witch hunt"...? Yes, surely the latter. Only fucking reds and shitlibs could suggest the former.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
PaulT (profile), 11 Apr 2014 @ 1:12am

Re:
"People seem to forget she was doing her job when she went on the Sunday talk shows and defended warrentless searches and spying"

Either she was a part of that decision, or she was happy to go and defend the indefensible just because someone told her she had to as part of her job.

Sorry, not a great deal of difference in my mind. That defence didn't work in Nuremberg and it doesn't hold here.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
PaulT (profile), 11 Apr 2014 @ 1:16am

Re:
"witch hunt" = correct criticising those responsible for the stripping of rights and wars started on false pretences that have cost many thousands of lives?

I assume therefore that in your dictionary, "leftist" = "someone capable of understanding and addressing reality"?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
PaulT (profile), 11 Apr 2014 @ 1:17am

Re:
So, because Obama's doing similar things, we can't criticise Bush's administration? Educate yourself, start with the term "false dichotomy".
[ link to this | view in thread ]
PaulT (profile), 11 Apr 2014 @ 1:19am

Re: Careful of the precedent
"I am sick of people claiming that they are upset about an issue when they are really just upset that the person was on the wrong team."

...and I'm sick of morons attacking what they assume are the opinions of others rather than learning their actual positions. But those strawmen are just so much easier to attack than reality, right?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
PaulT (profile), 11 Apr 2014 @ 1:19am

Re: Careful of the precedent
"We still don't have net neutrality."

Oh and yes we do, we always have. Neutrality is what people are trying to remove and we have to defend, not something we have to build.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
PaulT (profile), 11 Apr 2014 @ 1:32am

Re: Right vs Left has nothing to do with it
Some Americans have managed to fool themselves into thinking that politics is a team game, and nothing their "team" can do is wrong so long as it damages the other team.

It's rather pathetic, and a little scary to see so many immature fools with voting rights.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
PaulT (profile), 11 Apr 2014 @ 1:33am

Re: Re:
Be cautious about *any* cloud you didn't set up yourself - and even then keep an eye on your ISP...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
PaulT (profile), 11 Apr 2014 @ 1:39am

Re: Apple's dubios board.
"Where was the indignation at Al Gore being on the Apple BOD?"

He joined in 2003. Maybe there's a story if you search the archives.

"Left wing hypocrisy is overwhelming"

Politics is not a team sport. Stop being a child.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Iw, 11 Apr 2014 @ 2:58am

In case you missed it, all the big companies assist the govt. When asked. Best thing to do is not have or do anything illegal. How hard is that? For most people, that will do. If you have propietary info, then it doesn't go in the cloud, right? If it's just personal or private information, then it doesn't go on the cloud either. Sure dropbox will sniff your packet and turn you in if you're engaged in something illegal. I don't think they ever said they wouldn't. So don't do that.

What we don't want is the govt. framing political targets ala MLK and Hoover or ruining people or companies for politcal or economic reasons they can vaguely relate to 'national security'... favoring one company by stealing another company's IP, ruining a competitor of a favored company.. generally interfering with civil society...they DO have an legit interest in defending against terrorism in this country and a first line of defense are the commercial providers of services who , yes, will give you up if you mean harm. What did you want them to do?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 11 Apr 2014 @ 4:17am

Re: Re:
Obviously not, Condi spent most of her time under a table during her time at the White House.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 11 Apr 2014 @ 4:26am

Re: Apple's dubios board.
What does Clinton have to do with left wing-ism ?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it

RLS, 11 Apr 2014 @ 6:12am

Geeks suck
LOL! Look at the geeks panic! What a pack of shitheads.

Hey, morons, she's not working for the government anymore. You know how a company might turn to an ex-hacker or ex-thief to consult on security?

The NSA doesn't care about you or your furry hentai fetish. This "crisis" is the funniest thing to ever happen. A sea of filthy geeks cowering in their basements thinkng Big Brother is after them. Meanwhile no one gives a particle of rat shit about any of them or their massive personality disorders.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
PaulT (profile), 11 Apr 2014 @ 6:30am

Re: Geeks suck
I'll never understand the mindset that leads someone to post 3 paragraphs of saying nothing other than "look at how stupid I am!".

You actually had one reasonable point to make:

"You know how a company might turn to an ex-hacker or ex-thief to consult on security?"

That's worth of discussion. But, you decided to wrap it in text that makes it look like a 9 year old football player wanted to get over the inferiority complex he gets every time he steps into a classroom.

Don't worry, once you get over puberty you'll learn how to communicate with adults and the nerds won't make you feel so impotent.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Killer_Tofu (profile), 11 Apr 2014 @ 8:07am

Re: Re: Right vs Left has nothing to do with it
I am glad to see others posting that they recognize much the same thing. Sometimes it feels like almost everyone else out there is focused on the whole "but These guys are so much better than Those guys!" type aspect, and for what seems to me like small things compared to everything else they are really up to. Yes, some of the issues are important, but on the whole, both options are pretty sour.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
John Fenderson (profile), 11 Apr 2014 @ 8:38am

Re:
"Best thing to do is not have or do anything illegal. How hard is that?"

It's easy. But it doesn't solve the problem.

"What did you want them to do?"

Respect our rights. If they can't do that and "defend the nation" at the same time, then stop trying to "defend the nation."
[ link to this | view in thread ]
John Fenderson (profile), 11 Apr 2014 @ 8:42am

Re: Geeks suck
"she's not working for the government anymore"

And I'm thankful for that. But it's not relevant to the problem. The problem is that she has demonstrated that she is in favor of spying, wiretaps without a warrant, etc., and she has been placed on the board of a company for whom these issues are very relevant.

If she had been placed on the board of, say Exxon, nobody would have cared.

"You know how a company might turn to an ex-hacker or ex-thief to consult on security?"

Yes, but how many times do these companies put such people into positions of power, such as sitting on the board?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
michael, 11 Apr 2014 @ 1:22pm

Re:
"People seem to forget she was doing her job when she went on the Sunday talk shows and defended warrentless searches and spying."

The Nuremberg Defense holds no water for me.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
michael, 11 Apr 2014 @ 1:28pm

Re: Dropbox is only used by the naive and stupid
I use Dropbox because my data isn't private, so I don't care who else sees it. The stuff I have there is innocuous, and only there because it makes a convenient place to temporarily store files I might want to move from 1 device to another.

My private data never goes on a server. Not as convenient, but much more secure.

Am I naive or stupid?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Darwin, 11 Apr 2014 @ 2:00pm

Re:
What???? Doing her job?????? How asinine.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
John Fenderson (profile), 11 Apr 2014 @ 2:22pm

Re: Re: Dropbox is only used by the naive and stupid
"Am I naive or stupid?"

Neither. You've thought seriously about the risks and benefits and have made an intelligent decision about what works best for you. I applaud you, sir.

What people shouldn't do is use cloud services without thought, as if they were just an extension of their private machines.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
artof intel, 12 Apr 2014 @ 10:28am

adding bush virus to drop box system
adding a bush virus to the drop box system will definitely NOT make it a better system! dropbox should choose better people for humanity sake.

this also could be a pre-planned outcome, meaning bush cronies want to secretly infiltrate cloud computing...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
That One Guy (profile), 14 Apr 2014 @ 12:45am

Re: Re:
It's easy.

If only.

With how convoluted the legal systems are(pick a country, they're all guilty of this), and how many laws there are on the books, not doing anything obviously illegal might seem fairly easy, but not doing anything illegal? All but impossible.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Pragmatic, 14 Apr 2014 @ 5:41am

Re: Re:
Craig, stop perpetuating the left/right red/blue dichotomy. Other options exist. All you're achieving here is to keep things as they are by increasing the divisions that stop us from working together.

The day we stop the "You must be a liberal socialist!" nonsense, they will fear us. Can we stop it now, please?
[ link to this | view in thread ]