In the past month, workers in Silicon Valley have demanded that the large tech companies where they work stop doing business with federal agencies associated with the ghastlier policies of the Trump administration and local governments--and in some cases it's worked. Google said it would not renew a contract with the Pentagon to build an A.I. system for military drones after thousands of employees signed a petition and dozens quit in protest. Orlando, Florida's police department dropped Amazon's facial-recognition tech after a public outcry that included criticisms from Amazon employees opposed to the activity. Microsoft is keeping a contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement despite demands from more than 100 of its employees who believe doing so signals a complicity with the administration's hard-line immigration policy. This activity has been facilitated by the Tech Workers Coalition, a volunteer group of professionals in the tech industry that has worked on a number of labor, justice, and equality issues in recent years.

Silicon Valley likes to think it is an engine of progress, which in turn helps tech companies self-identify as standard-bearers of progressivism. And in many ways, Silicon Valley is progressive. Companies voiced opposition to President Trump's bigoted executive order barring transgender people from serving in the military, and they stood up against the Trump administration's Islamophobic travel ban. Many tech CEOs spoke out this month against the separation of families at the border. While long hours are de rigueur in Silicon Valley and the jobs are dominated by white males, many of these companies emphasize at least some progressive values in the workplace, hosting open forums for employees to discuss politics and internal dynamics, offering ample time off, and creating well-funded (if too frequently ineffective) diversity initiatives.

Google's decision not to renew a controversial artificial intelligence (AI) contract with the Pentagon has reignited a debate about what Silicon Valley's role should be with regard to the military and war. Google, facing internal pressure, told employees during a meeting on Friday that it would not renew its contract with the Defense Department's flagship AI program, known as Project Maven, after it expires in 2019, according to multiple reports. The contract sparked a public relations crisis after a handful of employees reportedly resigned in protest and thousands of employees signed a letter urging the company's CEO not to allow Google to be drafted into the "business of war." Project Maven had recruited Google to help advance technology like surveillance drones, which are used to track the whereabouts of terrorist organizations and uncover devised plots before they unfold. Bob Work, a former deputy Defense secretary who established Project Maven in April 2017, told The Hill on Monday that he is still holding out hope that Google will reconsider.