President-elect Trump stirs apolitical Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley has long been an apolitical bastion of brainy engineers, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists more concerned about the next hot social media startup than what's happening in Washington. That began changing as internet access spread and companies such as Facebook and Apple become indelibly linked to daily life – and to politics. As a result, Apple, Google, and Facebook hired lobbyists in Washington and boosted political spending. Technologists have become more socially active as encryption, online censorship, internet surveillance, and digital security have become politicized. Now, as Trump is set to take office after an election in which Russian hackers, internet trolls, and fake news all played a role, Silicon Valley is reassessing its place in the national political conversation and pockets of tech workers are beginning to speak out with a more forceful – and unified – voice.