No, I think something minimal is probably going on here. My spidey sense tells me Dropbox is not the evil empire trying to suppress freedom of expression among coders. I can imagine that were I in Arash's shoes, I too would be very worried about impending Rapidsharization of my service.
That doesn't mean Dropbox handled this flawlessly. They appear not to have. It does, however, imply:
* The nerds angry about the request to take down the code are not in fact creating a PR nightmare for Dropbox, because they are helping to spread the word that Dropbox is hostile to this use case.
* That Dropbox is probably not going to switch into kamikaze legal mode to keep people from talking about their protocols or building tools, because it was the particular use case fostered by this tool that set them off.
You are free to disagree. I promise not to caricature you as a supervillain for having done so.
I can completely understand Arash not wanting Dropbox to be used as a Rapidshare or other similar site - he has every right to enforce his Terms of Service - that's what they are there for, and what users agree to when they signed up (their own fault for not reading it and just now seeing that their files can be removed or their account can be suspended).
My concern is the system they are using for DMCA notices. If it is indeed an automated system, then they are doing things wrong. Yes, have a DMCA notice generated, but someone should physically vet that notice prior to it being sent out - and that should most likely not just be a member of the support staff.
I am also concerned that Arash was using a tool, meant for support staff, that he was not familiar with to perform a mass-removal as well as a mass-DMCA takedown notice when it is obvious any such tool would require him to enter the claiming company name - in this case Dropbox. He should have asked, or been told what is going on with such a tool.
That doesn't mean Dropbox handled this flawlessly. They appear not to have. It does, however, imply:
* The nerds angry about the request to take down the code are not in fact creating a PR nightmare for Dropbox, because they are helping to spread the word that Dropbox is hostile to this use case.
* That Dropbox is probably not going to switch into kamikaze legal mode to keep people from talking about their protocols or building tools, because it was the particular use case fostered by this tool that set them off.
You are free to disagree. I promise not to caricature you as a supervillain for having done so.