Tech Industry Blasts Donald Trump in Open Letter
Donald Trump has a history of conflict with the tech industry. (Gage Skidmore / CC 2.0)
Dozens of high-ranking officials in the technology industry have pledged their opposition to a Donald Trump presidency in an open letter published on Thursday. “We have listened to Donald Trump over the past year and we have concluded: Trump would be a disaster for innovation,” the letter reads.
The letter is signed by dozens of tech leaders—including Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Wozniak, eBay Inc. co-founder Pierre Omidyar and Facebook Inc. vice president Margaret Stewart—who list a number of reasons that they believe a Trump presidency would harm technological advances, starting with immigration policy:
Great ideas come from all parts of society, and we should champion that broad-based creative potential. We also believe that progressive immigration policies help us attract and retain some of the brightest minds on earth?—?scientists, entrepreneurs, and creators. … Donald Trump, meanwhile, traffics in ethnic and racial stereotypes, repeatedly insults women, and is openly hostile to immigration.
A free internet is crucial for technological development, the signers add:
Donald Trump proposes “shutting down” parts of the Internet as a security strategy?—?demonstrating both poor judgment and ignorance about how technology works. His penchant to censor extends to revoking press credentials and threatening to punish media platforms that criticize him.
Finally, the letter addresses the overlap of government and the tech industry.
“[W]e believe that government plays an important role in the technology economy by investing in infrastructure, education and scientific research,” it reads. “[Trump’s] reckless disregard for our legal and political institutions threatens to upend what attracts companies to start and scale in America. He risks distorting markets, reducing exports, and slowing job creation.”
Trump has not responded to the letter, although he has quite a history of conflict with the tech industry: He has criticized Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Apple CEO Tim Cook, to name a few.
—Posted by Emma Niles
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Source: http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/tech_community_blasts_donald_trump_in_open_letter_20160715/
