Former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s appointment to the board of file-sharing company Dropbox is being criticized by some service users.
Protests on social media say Condoleezza Rice is a controversial figure after revelations of widespread wiretapping on US citizens during her time in office.
A petition has been launched inviting supporters to boycott the company.
However, some analysts claim the bigger concerns for the file-sharing company are competing services.
Condoleezza Rice’s appointment to the board of file-sharing company Dropbox is being criticized by some service users
Following the launch of Mailbox for Android and the wider implementation of Dropbox for Business, the company also announced the addition of Condoleezza Rice as a new board member.
Condoleezza Rice, who served as former President George W. Bush’s Secretary of State from 2005 to 2009 and National Security Adviser from 2001 to 2005, was appointed by Dropbox to expand its global footprint, according to its official blog.
However, this has been condemned by some Dropbox users who have launched a campaign.
Voicing concerns on social media, some have said it is inappropriate for the file-sharing company to hire Condoleezza Rice, accusing her of being involved in widespread wiretapping during her time in office.
Those pressing Dropbox to revoke Condoleezza Rice’s appointment are using the hashtag #DropDropbox in an attempt to boycott the company.
A petition has also been created which amassed approximately 3,000 signatures in its first few hours.
Dropbox has yet to release an official statement addressing the backlash, but a company’s recent blog post said: “We’re honored to be adding someone as brilliant and accomplished as Ms Rice to our team.”
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Google Drive plans found by The Next Web
Brad McCarty at The Next Web got lucky and received a draft release from a partner of Google’s upcoming Google Drive service which discloses lots of information about how Google plans to take on the incumbent Dropbox. The story: 5 GB of storage, and it launches next week, most likely on Tuesday at http://drive.google.com
Brad McCarty commented:
Now let’s talk details. It’s no surprise that it will roll out for free. What’s interesting though is that Google is planning to start everyone with 5 GB of storage. Of course you can buy more, but that trumps Dropbox’s 2 GB that is included with every account. Dropbox does make it easy to get more space, including 23 GB of potential upgrades for HTC users.
What’s also interesting is the wording related to how the system will work. It’s been long-thought that Windows integration will come easy, but that getting the Google Drive icon into the Mac a la Dropbox would be a bit harder. From what we’re reading, Google Drive will work “in desktop folders” on both Mac and Windows machines, which still leaves the operation question unanswered.
Google Drive leaked at TechCrunch
TechCrunch has been able to download and run the app and it is currently idle, sitting quietly in the corner, unable to connect to the service at Google.
The version they were given is 1.0.2891 and seems to run without issue. They were able to log in using the Gmail account. It currently throws an error stating that “Google Drive is not yet enabled for your account.”
Though not definitive proof that the service will launch next week, it’s clear that this is a full, working app. There is native support for Google filetypes like files produced in Gdraw and Google Docs.
At this point the app is pretty much useless. It seems Google needs to activate the service from their end in order to enable the functionality.
Google is not commenting on Google Drive at yet. “We do not comment on rumor or speculation,” a spokesman told msnbc.com Monday.
Read more at The Next Web and TechCrunch
