Condoleezza Rice Joins Dropbox’s Board As It Names New CFO, COO • Hacker News Board

Re: Condoleezza Rice Joins Dropbox’s Board As It Names New CFO, COO

#281

Post by wooter » Thu, Apr 10, 2014, 4:04 PM UTC

spktrthhrts wrote: post #237

at-fates-hands wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>> It's a shame that they had to pick a Bush crony. Another great example of how partisanship and shitty double standards have ruined our country. The fact is, the vote to invade Iraq was a bi-partisan vote: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Resolution_to_Authorize_t... "Introduced in Congress on October 2, 2002, in conjunction with the Administration's proposals,[2][7] H.J.Res. 114 passed the House of Representati…

Ok, so it was both parties. But Condoloza Rice could have spoken out about the illegal torture and abuse. She chose not to. In fact she chose to defend it. That's why she is now responsible for and a symbol of warcrimes.

Couldn't agree more! It was both parties and every last one of them should be held accountable regardless of affiliation. The votes are public knowledge!

People are too quick to in-fighting over sides. Right now both are doing it and both are getting away with it. Just look at Kerry's recent syria, libya, etc. talks.

I don't forgive Condosleeza a pass just like I don't give Clinton a pass for bombing Iraq. (yea, we should remember that far back!)

Re: Condoleezza Rice Joins Dropbox’s Board As It Names New CFO, COO

#282

Post by jellicle » Thu, Apr 10, 2014, 4:05 PM UTC

I find this board appointment alarming for what it signals.

We know that the NSA et al. are always seeking access to new sources of electronic data. It is beyond doubt that they have considered how to get access to Dropbox user data, and almost certainly beyond doubt that they have approached Dropbox about it.

To me, this appointment signals that Dropbox wants to reach a negotiated settlement with the NSA over their access to Dropbox user data. They hire someone who knows all the key players and issues, to negotiate on their behalf. Presumably Ms. Rice will be instructed something like:

"We're getting a lot of pressure from the NSA. If the public knows we are giving away their data, there will be a shitstorm, it'll cost us a lot of business. So, you have to make sure NSA access to our data is somewhat limited, there's some kind of plausible legal authority, a court order or something, make sure they pay us for our efforts in copying the data over to the NSA, that sort of thing. Set it up so we can put all the blame on the NSA if anything leaks, and claim we were mandated to comply by law. Okay?"

And then Ms. Rice will be dispatched to undertake that negotiation.

So, if the NSA doesn't yet have a pipeline from Dropbox to that datacenter in Utah, they will soon.

Re: Condoleezza Rice Joins Dropbox’s Board As It Names New CFO, COO

#283

Post by Ryel » Thu, Apr 10, 2014, 4:06 PM UTC

Can someone post up Dropbox alternatives? Particularly any service that is blessed by, or maybe created by a HN user?

Re: Condoleezza Rice Joins Dropbox’s Board As It Names New CFO, COO

#284

Post by hkphooey » Thu, Apr 10, 2014, 4:08 PM UTC

mathattack wrote: post #19

My first instinct on seeing the title was "What does someone like this (or Al Gore, or any other politician) have to offer a tech startup?" Then the article makes it more clear: "What’s interesting about bringing Rice onto Dropbox’s board is how normal it feels. 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 i…

Dropbox will have zero impact in China.

Forget the trust and security angle and just look at the local competition - TenCent offer 10TB of free storage!

Google, Facebook and Twitter are all banned in China and there is nothing they can do about it.

Re: Condoleezza Rice Joins Dropbox’s Board As It Names New CFO, COO

#285

Post by snarfy » Thu, Apr 10, 2014, 4:09 PM UTC

dllthomas wrote: post #266

snarfy wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They only did what Greenspan told them to. It doesn't matter who 'owns' the oil. As long as it's sold in dollars, it props up the value of the US dollar.

"They only did what Greenspan told them to." Do you have any evidence for that?

He admitted it himself. In Greenspan's book, he mentions how he regretted urging Bush to do it.

Re: Condoleezza Rice Joins Dropbox’s Board As It Names New CFO, COO

#286

Post by streptomycin » Thu, Apr 10, 2014, 4:14 PM UTC

ekianjo wrote: post #279

streptomycin wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say it was more like "weapons of mass destruction that Saddam Hussein was HOPED TO possess". The Bush administration had a bit of circumstantial evidence that they sold to the world as definitive evidence, but they didn't actually know that there were no WMDs.

Correct me if my memory is failing, but they had several UN inspectors go to Iraq who found nothing and Tony Blair had his aides fabricate some false evidence that was later used by Powell to declare "hey, we found 'em, now let's nuk'em". When you need to fabricate evidence, you do it because you lack of actual one in the first place.

Saddam didn't let the UN inspectors look everywhere they wanted to, so that wasn't conclusive (in retrospect, this was an incredibly stupid thing for Saddam to do... maybe he wanted to bluff that maybe he did have WMDs to make himself appear more powerful than he actually was, not thinking that the US would actually invade?).

IIRC Powell's "evidence" (and some other evidence too) came from Curveball, not from the UK. It was very shaky evidence, but it wasn't known to be completely false. And even if it was, there was still the hope that Saddam had some kind of WMDs that we didn't know about.

I'm veering off into speculation now, but I think their thought process was... We gave him WMDs in the 80s and he used them in the 80s. What were the odds he really got rid of them all and hasn't tried to acquire more? I think everyone in the Bush administration just assumed that to be the case, so they weren't worried that the actual intelligence was incredibly suspect and possibly even fabricated. They already "knew" Saddam was guilty, they just needed to get the authority to take him out, and then they would be greeted as liberators and find copious evidence of all of Saddam's WMDs and evil deeds.

Re: Condoleezza Rice Joins Dropbox’s Board As It Names New CFO, COO

#287

Post by dombili » Thu, Apr 10, 2014, 4:17 PM UTC

I only had 4 small encrypted files on my Dropbox account, so the decision to close my account was a no brainer.

I'm not even angry at them for selecting a war criminal as a board member but she supports the NSA and warrantless wiretappings. This is such a stupid decision for so many reasons. But I'm not surprised, because we deserve companies like Dropbox who doesn't care about their users private data, because we've been prioritizing convenience over security for years. Well, not anymore. Good riddance.

My problem with this is that even though Condi Rice is a war criminal, no one will say so in the media (some will, those that public don't really listen/read). But it was easy to bash Eich (and rightfully so) because marriage equality sells. Don't expect Dropbox to back off from their decision because only a small group of people will boycott them.

Re: Condoleezza Rice Joins Dropbox’s Board As It Names New CFO, COO

#288

Post by dllthomas » Thu, Apr 10, 2014, 4:22 PM UTC

snarfy wrote: post #285

dllthomas wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"They only did what Greenspan told them to." Do you have any evidence for that?

He admitted it himself. In Greenspan's book, he mentions how he regretted urging Bush to do it.

Interesting. I'd somehow missed that.

Re: Condoleezza Rice Joins Dropbox’s Board As It Names New CFO, COO

#289

Post by ebrenes » Thu, Apr 10, 2014, 4:24 PM UTC

wacknack wrote: post #230

ChrisGaudreau wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Will you use your normal account or just conveniently hide behind fake accounts to say things you know are stupid?

Considering that my normal account was permanently slowed and is apparently unable to post more than once an hour due to this thread, I'd say "hiding" is useful if one wants to express an unpopular opinion on HN, merely to retain the functionality of his normal account.

That's the system working as intended. This site isn't meant to be about rapid back-n-forth banter or quick retorts and small points.

If after an hour, what you meant to say isn't worth saying then it's clear it isn't worth having on the site.

Re: Condoleezza Rice Joins Dropbox’s Board As It Names New CFO, COO

#290

Post by Zenst » Thu, Apr 10, 2014, 4:27 PM UTC

She is an intellegent person, so could somebody explain too me why so many deem this a bad move without mentioning the War,WMDs,NSA or some political bias?

I'm all ears.