I stopped using Dropbox after the Rice appointment. Here's the thing - I'm not concerned that she's going to spy on my stuff or let the govt spy on my stuff any more than, say, Google. I'm concerned that she lacks integrity. Now, either the board knows this and doesn't care (b/c they lack integrity) or doesn't know this and doesn't care (which makes me question their judgment). Perhaps they appointed her b/c of her ties to govt and academia in the hope that she could help open new markets. OK. Has she? Perhaps they appointed her b/c they want to see more women and people of color on startup boards. Bravo! Wrong choice. And this is coming from a person of color.
There seems to be this misperception of board members as individually highly influential on the actions of a company.
Rice was probably hired for several of the reasons that you mentioned above. Ultimately though, it's hard to make useful speculation from outside of the company, with little knowledge of the company's long-term goals.
