Amid controversies of surprising corporate shakeups is another story that critics believe could paint alarming images in the future of a popular service. Condoleezza Rice - yes, the former National Security Advisor and U.S. Secretary of State - joins the board of directors of popular cloud storage and sync application Dropbox.
The company confirmed the recent hire in a blog post on April 9.
"When looking to grow our board, we sought out a leader who could help us expand our global footprint. Dr. Rice has had an illustrious career as Provost of Stanford University, board member of companies like Hewlett-Packard and Charles Schwab, and former United States Secretary of State. We're honored to be adding someone as brilliant and accomplished as Dr. Rice to our team," said Drew Houston, CEO of Dropbox.
The public gets the picture, but has expressed its concern, because with Rice on board, it means two things to many of them: privacy and security of their documents in the said platform.
It appears that Rice's consulting firm has been advising Dropbox on management concerns since last year -- something that has been kept low profile, say reports. As she finally goes on board, Rice will assist Dropbox on matters such as privacy policies and international expansion.
"As a country, we are having a great national conversation and debate about exactly how to manage privacy concerns," said Rice.
"I look forward to helping Dropbox navigate it," she added.
Critics said there's no question about her expertise, but they said this is the same state official who authorized the wiretapping of officials of the United Nations and other local targets without any sort of warrant. She has also become a popular figure for her so-called ferocious intelligence as well as for her controversial role during the administration of former President George Bush.
One critic, executive director Travor Timm of Freedom of the Press Foundation, has publicly expressed his opinion at Twitter.
"Disturbing move from Dropbox, who just added Condi Rice-public advocate of warrantless wiretapping-to its board," he tweeted.
Recall that Dropbox has been accused recently of violating files from the personal folder of a particular user, following a complaint from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act about copyright infringement by the user. Automatically, the file has been taken down and prevented from being shared. That case has brought about fears from users wondering if their files are really safe in Dropbox.
Now, with the recent hiring of Rice, critics said it's like adding insult to injury.
