Research

       A history of innovation, that is Silicon Valley. Not many places in the United States have anything other than a history of violence, but Silicon Valley in Northern California is an exception. The area dubbed that after an article in 1971 by journalist Jon Hoefler about semiconductors which were now made of silicon instead of geranium (Insider 3:01). From as early as the late 1800’s to this decade, San Francisco’s port continues to support innovation in tech and companies continue to base their head quarters there. A collaboration of class, wealth, and tech, Silicon Valley continues to be a prominent leader in the field of innovation. However, as with many institutions of stature the unrelenting fact is that diversity and care for humanity is never at the forefront and Silicon Valley is no exception.

       Diversity is not limited to race, it is the inclusion of “other identities such as disability, age, and veteran or LGBTQ status” (Stempeck 2019). Silicon Valley and its tenants (companies) have continued to lack greatly in their strive for diversity. Many can argue that its lack of diversity stems from its biggest collegiate employee retainer, Stanford University. Stanford, which is notoriously known for its lack of inclusion via access for people of color and women.  Big Tech companies that have government contracts are obligated to provide a diversity report, EEO-1, but this is not disclosed to the public. In recent years under public pressure some of the larger tech companies have published theirs, however, “transparency hasn’t brought about meaningful improvement” (Stempeck 2019).

       Lack of diversity is not the only issue facing Silicon Valley. The weaponizing of many of these companies’ platforms during political processes are a concern as well. In the 2016 presidential election after being called to testify, Facebook, Twitter, and Google, “All three companies admitted that Russian entities bought ads on their sites in an attempt to skew the vote” (Solon 2017). Big Data is a result of Big Tech and these companies access to consumer information is another jarring dot on the enormous grasp they have on society. The wealth and “deepening pockets and growing influence of companies like Facebook, Amazon, Google and Apple has raised concerns that they have become Goliaths, threatening the innovation Silicon Valley was once known for” (Solon 2017). Government regulation in the efforts of privacy, democracy, wealth equality, and the very quest for creativity and innovation is needed to ensure Silicon Valley and its tenants (companies) do not monopolize the tech industry further. And while “Some in Congress may use the “let’s regulate tech” talking points to project a consumer champion image. Others may use the issue as a means of rallying the political base against big, rich, coastal elites who work at tech companies” (Sullivan 2019) but these ultimately are just talking points. The groundwork for government regulation of the tech industry is a hard, costly, and uphill fight with which tech companies are already in the lead “flooding Washington with lobbyists, to the point where they now outspend Wall Street two to one” (Solon 2017).

       Any company that operates in a user-based sphere should have an ethical responsibility to those users. This is always unlikely. Money rarely has loyalty to humanity and in Big Tech there is a lot of money, and very little loyalty to the human spirit, “Facebook’s founding president, Sean Parker, said the social network knew from the outset it was creating something addictive, something that exploited “a vulnerability in human psychology” (Solon 2017).

References: 

(2017). Animated Timeline Shows How Silicon Valley Became a $2.8 trillion neighborhood. Tech Insider. https://youtu.be/UO-8CMdeSHA

Solon, Olivia. (2017). Tech's terrible year: how the world turned on Silicon Valley in 2017. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/dec/22/tech-year-in-review-2017

Stempeck. Matt. (2019). See Big Tech’s terrible diversity record, visualized using its logos. Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/90428465/see-big-techs-terrible-diversity-record-visualized-using-its-logos

Sullivan, Mark. (2019). What it really means when Congress talks about regulating Big Tech. Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/90379426/what-it-really-means-when-congress-talks-about-regulating-big-tech