Hacking the Dropbox Space Race

The story of how a few MIT students used Python, Mechanize, internal mailing lists and Gmail to automate Dropbox account creation (sign up to Dropbox, confirm the account, install the binary and share a file).

Five days ago, Dropbox launched its first collegiate Space Race, and gave us MIT folk a chance at eternal glory. To nobody’s surprise, it was only a matter of hours before we had achieved a landslide victory. ... But then disaster struck. Just one day later, international universities with larger student bodies pulled ahead in the rankings and left us in the dust. ... All hope was lost, but a number of student groups refused to give up. With unparalleled determination, these students worked through the night as they slowly pieced together a solution. Tonight, one of those solutions was put into action, and MIT once again became #1 in the world. Here’s how it worked: