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I think Mr. Altman is largely addressing tech CEOs here and urging them to make public statements. The actions you list are great for you and me, but he's most

I think Mr. Altman is largely addressing tech CEOs here and urging them to make public statements. The actions you list are great for you and me, but he's mostly not really talking to us. Supporting quotations from the post (because evidence): "The tech community is powerful. Large tech companies in particular have enormous power and are held in high regard. We need to hear from the CEOs clearly and unequivocally" "At a minimum, companies should take a public stance."

myblake 10y ago
I think those are the people he wants to ultimately affect, but it's important to remember that attracting and retaining the best talent is one of the main things on the mind of the CEOs of top tech companies. Hearing from employees of prospective employees about the importance of this absolutely will impact their thinking.
tadasv 10y ago
Only small companies can take a public stance and they won't for numerous reasons. No large company will ever take a political stance like this. There's too much at stake. I've been saying this for a long time. US is a capitalist country, it does not matter that it's been built by immigrants.
- myblake 10y ago
  Let's not give up so quickly: https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/28/google-ceo-sundar-pichai-fears-impact-of-trump-immigration-order-recalls-staff/ https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/28/google-ceo-sundar-pichai-f...
  - gcp 10y ago
    Uh, I'd hope any large enough company in the USA (who's likely to have affected employees) sent out a similar message. They literally risk having personnel that was away on business travel get stuck outside the USA with nowhere to go.
- cridenour 10y ago
  Plenty of large companies took a stance against NC. While this is a larger stance, you may still see it.
  - mgkimsal 10y ago
    Senator Craig took a wide stance...
guelo 10y ago
The most effective action tech companies can take is what they did against SOPA: post large protest banners on popular websites. Though I don't think this is the right time to take that step. There are many outrages ahead, many will be directly related to tech, like killing net neutrality, forcing tech companies to compile Muslim registries, banning tech worker and student visas, and who knows what else. I think tech companies should reserve their fire for the many battles to come. Many different parts of society will be involved in these fights, it's not only up to tech communities to fight every battle.
- tptacek 10y ago
  Don't post banners about the US refusing reentry to Green Card holders who are the spouses of American citizens, or who fought alongside our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, because that might dilute our protests against net neutrality? After a period of 6-12 months outside the country, US Green Card holders lose their Green Cards.
  - pvg 10y ago
    After a period of 6-12 months outside the country, US Green Card holders lose their Green Cards. In a time of grave concern for many green card holders, it's probably better to avoid this sort of inaccurate info. It's freakout time but let's stick to freaking out about true things.
    - tptacek 10y ago
      Could you please true up the information?
      - jacquesm 10y ago
        I'll true it up for you, it is actually worse than you describe. If you are absent > 6 months you could end up with your green card status listed as 'abandoned', but even if you come back every 6 months that is no guarantee at all that it will not be listed abandoned. The golden rule seems to be to be more than 6 months per year in the USA, preferably substantially more than 6 months to avoid ambiguity.
barrkel 10y ago
Brexit re-demonstrated that business interests are ultimately secondary to politics, populist politics especially.
- gaius 10y ago
  Populist is just what the losing side calls democracy. See also elitism vs meritocracy.
  - Locke1689 10y ago
    The difference between populism and democracy is that populists always claim to speak "for the people" even if the people are divided. They'll even take action against the majority and simply claim that all the "real" people are for it.
  - barrkel 10y ago
    Democracy isn't rule of the majority; that's tyranny of the majority.
- beejiu 10y ago
  That is how it should be in principle. In this case, the problem is not the political system, it is the politics. (In other words, you get what you vote for.)
  - catawbasam 10y ago
    Except I didn't. Neither did a majority of my fellow voters.
    - beejiu 10y ago
      I am specifically referring to the Brexit referendum, where the majority of voters did vote in favor.
    - zo1 10y ago
      Then secede? Have a majority referendum in your respective states about it and tell us how it goes. Either that or admit that part of being part of the union is agreeing with the electoral college and the outcomes that arise from it. As much as I think that the majority Democrat States should suck it up about losing the election, I also think it's fully within their rights to secede if their populace wishes.
DanBC 10y ago
It would be useful for successful for the tech companies start by 1st or 2nd generation immigrants to speak up. I think the list includes (but I could be wrong): Apple Google Facebook Amazon Oracle IBM Uber Yahoo EMC eBay AT&T Tesla Reddit And, of course, ycombinator.
- sparkzilla 10y ago
  --->Legal immigrants
  - CydeWeys 10y ago
    There's not a lot of illegal immigrants in any sector save for low wage agricultural and services (e.g. kitchens). Certainly not in tech. This distinction isn't needed.
  - emiliobumachar 10y ago
    The executive order we're all talking about directly affects only legal immigrants, doesn't it?
  - mattieuga 10y ago
    Pretty sure Elon wasn't a legal immigrant when he started Zip2.
hedora 10y ago
Since this is HN, and, frankly, this audience is bay area centric, lobbying California to push back early and often might help. Many of us live in "sanctuary cities" with local governments that plan to stand up to Trump's immigration policies anyway. Strong business support here could easily inspire action by Sacramento and our congress critters. Action now will matter a lot more than after the feds broaden their target.
codecamper 10y ago
I fully support Sam's idea. Trump's power comes from the idea that he'll improve the economy. After this week, it should be clear that he'll do no such thing & maybe quite the opposite. Trump is too incoherent & impulsive. He blames economic problems on the Chinese & Mexicans. Meanwhile, he ignores the role robots & Amazon will have in job destruction. Corporate leaders can simply tell him to get lost when he sends a stupid tweet. With this he'll quickly lose his support base. It'll be tough though. He is promising corporate america a big tax break which will instantly boost valuations (already has), giving CEOs nice bonuses & stock paydays.
MicroBerto 10y ago
What Altman doesn't need to worry about is the blowback and boycotting that occurs when actual CEOs speak out. They know what he refuses to admit: that a non-vocal majority of this country strongly supports the President and will NOT support anyone who publicly smites him. Attacking the President as a normal consumer goods CEO is a losing proposition.
- hedora 10y ago
  That is what North Carolina thought. Major companies pressuring the government helps shift people's opinions on what is acceptable in modern society. Even if you don't care about doing the right thing, losing some business from a (shrinking) minority of Americans is probably worth the positive publicity overseas, economic stability, retaining visa-holding employees, etc.
- mattieuga 10y ago
  /s/majority/almost half
  - MicroBerto 10y ago
    s/almost half/over half after fraudulent votes removed
    - grzm 10y ago
      Unless you have solid evidence for this, please don't sow seeds of doubt regarding the integrity of the voting process. Edit: s/election/voting/ The election includes the whole primary system and the electoral college. Here I specifically mean the vote.
      - MicroBerto 10y ago
        Detroit is just one city (http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2016/12/12/records-many-votes-detroits-precincts/95363314/ http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2016/12/12/re...). How many others are there? That's plenty for the seeds of doubt, especially given how easy it is to vote in several states.

myblake 10y ago

I think those are the people he wants to ultimately affect, but it's important to remember that attracting and retaining the best talent is one of the main things on the mind of the CEOs of top tech companies. Hearing from employees of prospective employees about the importance of this absolutely will impact their thinking.

tadasv 10y ago

Only small companies can take a public stance and they won't for numerous reasons. No large company will ever take a political stance like this. There's too much at stake. I've been saying this for a long time. US is a capitalist country, it does not matter that it's been built by immigrants.

myblake 10y ago
Let's not give up so quickly: https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/28/google-ceo-sundar-pichai-fears-impact-of-trump-immigration-order-recalls-staff/ https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/28/google-ceo-sundar-pichai-f...
- gcp 10y ago
  Uh, I'd hope any large enough company in the USA (who's likely to have affected employees) sent out a similar message. They literally risk having personnel that was away on business travel get stuck outside the USA with nowhere to go.
cridenour 10y ago
Plenty of large companies took a stance against NC. While this is a larger stance, you may still see it.
- mgkimsal 10y ago
  Senator Craig took a wide stance...

guelo 10y ago

The most effective action tech companies can take is what they did against SOPA: post large protest banners on popular websites. Though I don't think this is the right time to take that step. There are many outrages ahead, many will be directly related to tech, like killing net neutrality, forcing tech companies to compile Muslim registries, banning tech worker and student visas, and who knows what else. I think tech companies should reserve their fire for the many battles to come. Many different parts of society will be involved in these fights, it's not only up to tech communities to fight every battle.

tptacek 10y ago
Don't post banners about the US refusing reentry to Green Card holders who are the spouses of American citizens, or who fought alongside our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, because that might dilute our protests against net neutrality? After a period of 6-12 months outside the country, US Green Card holders lose their Green Cards.
- pvg 10y ago
  After a period of 6-12 months outside the country, US Green Card holders lose their Green Cards. In a time of grave concern for many green card holders, it's probably better to avoid this sort of inaccurate info. It's freakout time but let's stick to freaking out about true things.
  - tptacek 10y ago
    Could you please true up the information?
    - jacquesm 10y ago
      I'll true it up for you, it is actually worse than you describe. If you are absent > 6 months you could end up with your green card status listed as 'abandoned', but even if you come back every 6 months that is no guarantee at all that it will not be listed abandoned. The golden rule seems to be to be more than 6 months per year in the USA, preferably substantially more than 6 months to avoid ambiguity.

barrkel 10y ago

Brexit re-demonstrated that business interests are ultimately secondary to politics, populist politics especially.

gaius 10y ago
Populist is just what the losing side calls democracy. See also elitism vs meritocracy.
- Locke1689 10y ago
  The difference between populism and democracy is that populists always claim to speak "for the people" even if the people are divided. They'll even take action against the majority and simply claim that all the "real" people are for it.
- barrkel 10y ago
  Democracy isn't rule of the majority; that's tyranny of the majority.
beejiu 10y ago
That is how it should be in principle. In this case, the problem is not the political system, it is the politics. (In other words, you get what you vote for.)
- catawbasam 10y ago
  Except I didn't. Neither did a majority of my fellow voters.
  - beejiu 10y ago
    I am specifically referring to the Brexit referendum, where the majority of voters did vote in favor.
  - zo1 10y ago
    Then secede? Have a majority referendum in your respective states about it and tell us how it goes. Either that or admit that part of being part of the union is agreeing with the electoral college and the outcomes that arise from it. As much as I think that the majority Democrat States should suck it up about losing the election, I also think it's fully within their rights to secede if their populace wishes.

DanBC 10y ago

It would be useful for successful for the tech companies start by 1st or 2nd generation immigrants to speak up. I think the list includes (but I could be wrong): Apple Google Facebook Amazon Oracle IBM Uber Yahoo EMC eBay AT&T Tesla Reddit And, of course, ycombinator.

sparkzilla 10y ago
--->Legal immigrants
- CydeWeys 10y ago
  There's not a lot of illegal immigrants in any sector save for low wage agricultural and services (e.g. kitchens). Certainly not in tech. This distinction isn't needed.
- emiliobumachar 10y ago
  The executive order we're all talking about directly affects only legal immigrants, doesn't it?
- mattieuga 10y ago
  Pretty sure Elon wasn't a legal immigrant when he started Zip2.

hedora 10y ago

Since this is HN, and, frankly, this audience is bay area centric, lobbying California to push back early and often might help. Many of us live in "sanctuary cities" with local governments that plan to stand up to Trump's immigration policies anyway. Strong business support here could easily inspire action by Sacramento and our congress critters. Action now will matter a lot more than after the feds broaden their target.

codecamper 10y ago

I fully support Sam's idea. Trump's power comes from the idea that he'll improve the economy. After this week, it should be clear that he'll do no such thing & maybe quite the opposite. Trump is too incoherent & impulsive. He blames economic problems on the Chinese & Mexicans. Meanwhile, he ignores the role robots & Amazon will have in job destruction. Corporate leaders can simply tell him to get lost when he sends a stupid tweet. With this he'll quickly lose his support base. It'll be tough though. He is promising corporate america a big tax break which will instantly boost valuations (already has), giving CEOs nice bonuses & stock paydays.

MicroBerto 10y ago

What Altman doesn't need to worry about is the blowback and boycotting that occurs when actual CEOs speak out. They know what he refuses to admit: that a non-vocal majority of this country strongly supports the President and will NOT support anyone who publicly smites him. Attacking the President as a normal consumer goods CEO is a losing proposition.

hedora 10y ago
That is what North Carolina thought. Major companies pressuring the government helps shift people's opinions on what is acceptable in modern society. Even if you don't care about doing the right thing, losing some business from a (shrinking) minority of Americans is probably worth the positive publicity overseas, economic stability, retaining visa-holding employees, etc.
mattieuga 10y ago
/s/majority/almost half
- MicroBerto 10y ago
  s/almost half/over half after fraudulent votes removed
  - grzm 10y ago
    Unless you have solid evidence for this, please don't sow seeds of doubt regarding the integrity of the voting process. Edit: s/election/voting/ The election includes the whole primary system and the electoral college. Here I specifically mean the vote.
    - MicroBerto 10y ago
      Detroit is just one city (http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2016/12/12/records-many-votes-detroits-precincts/95363314/ http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2016/12/12/re...). How many others are there? That's plenty for the seeds of doubt, especially given how easy it is to vote in several states.