{"id":13028,"date":"2014-04-13T08:10:27","date_gmt":"2014-04-13T08:10:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=13028"},"modified":"2014-04-13T08:10:27","modified_gmt":"2014-04-13T08:10:27","slug":"controversy-flares-as-condoleezza-rice-joins-dropbox-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=13028","title":{"rendered":"Controversy flares as Condoleezza Rice joins Dropbox board"},"content":{"rendered":"

The appointment of ex-US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the board of technology firm Dropbox is being criticised by some service users.<\/p>\n

Protests on social media say she is a controversial figure after revelations of widespread wiretapping on US citizens during her time in office.<\/p>\n

A petition has been launched inviting supporters to boycott the firm.<\/p>\n

However some analysts claim the bigger concerns for the file-sharing company are competing services.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Ms Rice, who served as former President George W Bush’s Secretary of State from 2005 to 2009 and National Security Adviser 2001 – 2005, was appointed by the company to expand its global footprint, according to itsofficial blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, this has been condemned by some Dropbox users who have launched a campaign.<\/p>\n

Voicing concerns on social media, some have said it is inappropriate for the file-sharing company to hire Ms Rice, accusing her of being involved in\u00a0widespread wiretapping<\/a>\u00a0during her time in office.<\/p>\n

Those pressing Dropbox to revoke Ms Rice’s appointment are using the hashtag #DropDropbox in an attempt to boycott the company. A\u00a0petition<\/a>has also been created which amassed approximately 3,000 signatures in its first few hours.<\/p>\n

Another\u00a0site<\/a>\u00a0said: “This is deeply disturbing, and anyone – or any business – who values ethics should be concerned,” before listing a number of Dropbox alternatives for those who wish to boycott the company.<\/p>\n

It also says Ms Rice should not hold power at Dropbox because of her role in the Iraq war.<\/p>\n

‘Short-term’<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, Chris Green, Principal Technology Analyst of Davies\u00a0Murphy Group<\/a>, told the BBC that most users probably wouldn’t be concerned over Ms Rice’s appointment.<\/p>\n

“The vast majority of the company’s 275 million users are unlikely to be swayed or concerned by the short-term negative PR that Condoleezza Rice’s appointment is generating for Dropbox,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The backlash is fuelled far more by pent-up anger at the administration she served in than a genuine concern for the security of Dropbox users’ data.<\/p>\n

The bigger concern for Dropbox, says Mr Green, is the growing competition it faces, which includes big names such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon.<\/p>\n

All of them “are offering competing services with either more free storage or more compelling commercial packages than Dropbox offers.”<\/p>\n

The company has yet to release an official statement addressing the backlash, but a recent Dropbox blog post said: “We’re honoured to be adding someone as brilliant and accomplished as Ms Rice to our team.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The appointment of ex-US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the board of technology firm Dropbox is being criticised by some service users. Protests on social media say she 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":13030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-13028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dr-akwasi-osei"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}