Mathematical Institute of the University of Bonn

Software idiosyncrasies on desktop computers

Dropbox

The data synchronization program dropbox is installed on all standard desktop computers.

You can launch the program either via the icon Internet → Dropbox in the K menu or by typing dropbox in a terminal window. After a successful login, the program generates its own icon within the task list.

Since this program is proprietary, commercial product (in contrast to the vast majority of the other installed programs) we want to stress a couple of points:

Since we don't have access to the source code of the program, we can be only of little help in the case of a problem. Also, we lack any ability to influence the reachability of the servers (e. g. server problems).
Upon first setting up Dropbox on your account, you will get the message Dropbox is running from an unsupported location. This is no cause for concern but is due to Dropbox preferring an installation method that is incompatible with our system. The program works as intended however, so just click on Don't ask again to use it and not Install Correctly, which won't work.
Technically speaking, the program has access to ALL of your data. We can't verify that the server (due to mistake or on purpose) only hands out the data that you intended.
The data is being stored on servers in the US. American law enforcement agencies do have access to these.