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Drop Dropbox

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Re: Drop Dropbox

#651

Post by eternalban »

grellas wrote: post #538

Think about what it means to the HN culture to have a subject that normally would have been flagged out of existence as overtly political suddenly be featured front and center in the apparent belief that ideological purity is now a litmus test for who can serve on a board of directors in the startup world. In a free society, people can unite in their business ventures even though they might be far apart in how they v…

> "... Politics, religion, and social worldviews divide people and have no place as limiting tests in a business environment."

Technology is not just "business". We are building the very fabric of future civil societies. There is, in my opinion, no other area of human endeavor today that requires greater care and reflection than "technology".

The 'HN party line' that this is just "business" is socially irresponsible.

Re: Drop Dropbox

#652

Post by davidgaw »

The way I would "drop Dropbox" if they or Rice give in to this shameful attack on diversity of thought. Otherwise, thanks in part to this effort, I will remain a loyal Dropbox customer for life.

Re: Drop Dropbox

#653

Post by nine_k »

forrestthewoods wrote: post #554
grellas wrote: post #538

Think about what it means to the HN culture to have a subject that normally would have been flagged out of existence as overtly political suddenly be featured front and center in the apparent belief that ideological purity is now a litmus test for who can serve on a board of directors in the startup world. In a free society, people can unite in their business ventures even though they might be far apart in how they v…

People are increasingly incapable of living and working with people with whom they deeply disagree. Quite frankly I consider that behavior childish and immature. Unfortunately it appears that we are living in a world full of children. I am not looking forward to the future where no one shares any opinion they may or may not have due to this type of blacklisting.

While I agree with your general sentiment, the case of Ms Rice is more substantial. She has a track record of relevant actions (not views), such as legal support of warrantless wiretapping, that have a direct relation to DropBox's core business of storing users' information.

OTOH I wonder why people are so upset about perspectives of snooping on their data stored in DropBox and its likes. If the data can be snooped on, it will be, should the powers that be decide so.

I suppose that you consider any data you store in a public cloud also public, and not expect much privacy. The only way to store data in a private way on machines you don't control is to store it encrypted, and never trust the encryption key to anyone. This is how SpiderOak works, for instance: they are incapable of disclosing any clients' data even if they badly wanted to.

Re: Drop Dropbox

#654

Post by kolbe »

chrisgd wrote: post #381
kolbe wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know right? It's like you have to have your head in the sand to not see the differences between the Bush and Obama administrations. I made a list a while back to give people an idea of the real differences between them. -Likes beer and sports: both Obama and Bush -Spends money the US doesn't have: both -Directs Taxpayers' Money to Special Interests: both -Supports Irresponsible Deficits: both -Grants Taxpayer-Funde…

The US prints its own money, it will always have enough. The question is whether inflation eats away its value.

The US's monetary base is $3.8T. Total outstanding public debt is $17.5T.[1][2]

If the US government were to print $17.5T in cash to cover their liability, it's not even a question that it would hurt every American with exposure to the value of the dollar. Debt is debt, and it has to be paid in the future. Every trillion borrowed today is not only a trillion we will not be able to borrow in the future, but also a trillion*exp(rt) that we will have to put towards paying debt back, rather than spending on our future needs. Printing money may sound like it's some meaningless and magical action, but it's not. Printing takes the money from people who have cash exposure. Taxing takes money from people more directly. Stealing from other countries via war takes the money from another source. But it has to be paid back in some way, Debt is debt, despite how much politicians make you want to believe otherwise so they can spend your future now.

[1] https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/BASE

[2] http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/debt/current

Re: Drop Dropbox

#655

Post by usingpond »

nickff wrote: post #474
fennecfoxen wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it's actually quite simple some people want to turn Silicon Valley into an arm of their preferred political party. Oh, they don't want that outright, certainly, but they certainly want it and everyone in it to be aligned with the party's principles, especially at the leadership level.

The extent of black-listing is quite remarkable; especially for a group of people so emphatic in describing themselves as 'tolerant'.

I fail to see how it's a black-list if the means of ejection is extremely public and based on pure market motivation? Conservatives with awful views tend to get "freedom of speech" and "freedom from social and business consequences" mixed up a lot.

Re: Drop Dropbox

#656

Post by pbreit »

At first, this Democrat thought this was a joke. I'm prepared to believe it still might be a show of how ridiculous this line of thinking is.

Rice is a huge "get" for Dropbox who I think has a good chance to be a significant asset for Dropbox once all this dust blows over. Rice has demonstrated time and again that she works for her team. In this case, that could mean making Dropbox the strongest, securest offering in the market. She is bright, well-connected and effective. Hardly anyone is mentioning her tenure at Stanford which is obviously a big plus for the company.

I don't see strong parallels to the Mozilla case. Different role, different company, different subject.

Re: Drop Dropbox

#657

Post by steveklabnik »

ryguytilidie wrote: post #493
pvnick wrote: post #253

I'm not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, I absolutely agree with most of the opposition to Condi Rice wrt the illegal war, warrantless wiretaps, torture, etc. On the other hand, I threw a hissy fit over the opposition to Eich based on his beliefs. I'm not sure how I can oppose Rice while standing up for Eich without inconsistency. Anybody else feel conflicted and have some insight? I'm still probably goin…

"But I don't know that I can go on the same kind of crusade for which I faulted the Eich lynch mob." This is so insanely hyperbolic I don't even know where to begin. We're now using the term "lynch mob" for a situation where people a) boycotted the product and b) wrote a lot of things about how what Brandon did was wrong and how he is the wrong choice for CEO. So, lynch mob, which means, "a mob that kills a person fo…

For more on the historical and present-day usage of 'lynch mob': http://rarlindseysmash.com/posts/2013-03-19-you-have-no-idea...

Re: Drop Dropbox

#658

Post by codegeek »

grellas wrote: post #538

Think about what it means to the HN culture to have a subject that normally would have been flagged out of existence as overtly political suddenly be featured front and center in the apparent belief that ideological purity is now a litmus test for who can serve on a board of directors in the startup world. In a free society, people can unite in their business ventures even though they might be far apart in how they v…

".. people can hold divergent views on such topics as politics, religion, and society without being punished for their views in a business context."

I think the problem here is that it is more than just holding divergent views. Rice was a major contributor in planning/executing the Iraq War which majority of Americans have opposed in the long run. Not to mention the number of civilian casualty just because we thought they had weapons of mass destruction.

Anyone is free to hold any views they want. But their actions based on those views have consequences.

Re: Drop Dropbox

#659

Post by forrestthewoods »

homulilly wrote: post #643
forrestthewoods wrote: post #554

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People are increasingly incapable of living and working with people with whom they deeply disagree. Quite frankly I consider that behavior childish and immature. Unfortunately it appears that we are living in a world full of children. I am not looking forward to the future where no one shares any opinion they may or may not have due to this type of blacklisting.

What I'm seeing is minorities and people who care about human rights finally getting fed up with the status quo and at least trying to get people to talk about it. I'm sorry that makes people like you feel threatened.

Right, because nothing encourages open discussion more than blacklisting everyone you disagree with.

I don't think people's hearts are in the wrong place. I think most people try to do good. I also think that the behaviors in question are trading small short term good for catastrophicly massive long term harm.

Edit: Yes, also downvote people you disagree with. This will also encourage more open discussion.

Re: Drop Dropbox

#660

Post by havaze »

This is insane. All that's done here is seeking a scapegoat that can be hold responsible for everything. This is nonsense, the American people are responsible for the decisions of the very same people they voted for, and nobody else. She never has held a democratically elected office you say? That doesn't matter either, the system which allowed this to happen was.

Now I'm not saying dropping dropbox is an unreasonable decision, privacy concerns come to mind, but what's one of the options the article suggests as replacement? Ah yes Microsoft, one of the most "evil" companies in existence. So we trade one evil for another, but wait there is more! What's about the companies that made you mobile phone, clothing, car and the other thousand things you use in your daily life? Well, if you finished checking every single one of them, and dropping products from the "evil" ones then please send me an email with a list of goodies that can be considered ethical. Or wait, you'll not have a computer any more at this point.

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