Employees rising

Activism in Silicon Valley could change the world

Last month, Microsoft (MS) CEO Satya Nadella was forced to address an unusual set of concerns raised by employees. More than 300 employees (a vast majority of whom are also shareholders) had signed an open letter, demanding that MS cease to work with the US Immigration & Customs Enforcement Agency (or ICE) owing to its “inhumane” practice of separating children from their parents. The letter went further, demanding that MS take an ethical stand to place children above profits and terminate its relations with ICE and any entity that directly enabled ICE. MS provides cloud-based services to ICE and was