I have a Dropbox account and use it to store a lot of my cloud-based documents. Dropbox emailed its users late last week, announcing changes to its Terms of Service, including the addition of an arbitration clause.  Notably, the clause included submission of disputes to the AAA for arbitration, a right to opt out within 30 days, an agreement that Dropbox will pay all arbitration fees for claims of less than $75,000, a “bonus” payment of $1,000 if the award is greater than any Dropbox offer of settlement, and, of course, a class action waiver.  I have reproduced the clause in its entirety below.

I wonder whether Dropbox adopted the few consumer-friendly features of the clause simply to please its users, to forestall any finding of unconscionability based on the class action waiver, or to try to retain users who might object.  The Dropbox Blog has a more complete announcement of the changes, including quite a few comments from users who object to the arbitration provision and have chosen to drop Dropbox as a result.  At least this is a service for which consumers have a choice: they can sign up for an alternative cloud storage service not subject to arbitration of disputes.

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