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What tech employees really think

Good morning! This Wednesday, tech employees want to work from home forever, Google foe Jonathan Kanter will lead the DOJ's antitrust section, Netflix confirms that it's getting into mobile games, and Venmo finally listens to everyone about its global transactions feed.
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If anyone thinks they know anything about how the return to work is going to go, they're … probably wrong. Even Apple, after doubling down on its hybrid office plan for September, has been forced to push the return to office to October because of rising counts of coronavirus cases.
Apple's office plans might just be the tip of the iceberg, as many companies are still contemplating how to navigate this post-pandemic world. One way to help figure that out is by asking employees. So we did.
Being able to work remotely is key, according to the survey results. Seventy-five percent of surveyed workers say it is important for their companies to allow them to work remotely indefinitely.
Employees are divided over political and cultural issues, like political views, NDAs and unionization, outside of remote work.
NDAs in particular are on the minds of employees: 15% of those surveyed said they strongly agreed that they had been silenced by an NDA before, and another 19% somewhat agreed. While that's less than half of the tech workforce, that's still a large percentage of workers who feel that they would have liked to say something publicly about their company or work, but were being silenced by an NDA.
We'll be seeing big political debates about some of these questions in the coming months, too. In California, a bill that would make it illegal for companies to force people to sign NDAs that keep them from speaking out about discrimination will soon be up for a vote. And on the federal level, union advocates are pushing for a bill that would make it far easier for people to form unions.
According to the U.S-China Business Council, one million jobs in the U.S. are consistently sustained by helping U.S. businesses sell to China. We are proud to be an important part of that U.S. job creation opportunity.
Join Protocol's Jamie Condliffe for a conversation with Zoox's Ashu Rege, Qualcomm's Alex Vukotich, Luminar Technologies's Christoph Schroeder and Verizon's Jyoti Sharma
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Jeff Bezos has Amazon to thank for his space flight:
Cannabis activists, like the Marijuana Policy Center's Matthew Schweich, think Amazon could be the key to legalization:
On Protocol: Cyber policy expert Samm Sacks says China's lofty cybersecurity goals aren't surprising:
Clearwater Analytics is eyeing an IPO. The company is working with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley on the deal, which could be valued at about $4 billion if it goes through, according to Bloomberg.
On Protocol | Policy: Jonathan Kanter will lead the Justice Department's antitrust section. The lawyer is super pro-competition, having pushed for an antitrust case against Google for years.
Shaoul Sussman joined the FTC as Lina Khan's attorney adviser. He previously researched antitrust law and Big Tech as a legal fellow at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.
Jacob DePriest is GitHub's new VP of security operations. He previously served as a senior director of IT at the National Security Agency.
We may be glued to our phones and computers, but there's really nothing like writing something down using a good pen. And if the paper also feels good to write on, that's a bonus.
If you're on the hunt for some really good writing utensils, give The Pen Addict podcast a shot. The two hosts spend each episode obsessing over stationery and offer advice on the best pens, pencils and other tools to use. Recent episodes include one on fountain pens and one on bulky notebooks, so have a listen, stock up on some good stationery, and enjoy writing the old fashioned way for a change.
This year, more than 50 percent of all retail sales in China are predicted to take place online—the first time this milestone has been reached globally. The digital economy and massive consumer market in China present big opportunities for Alibaba's U.S. customers.
Are you tired of explaining the tech news of the day to your co-workers every morning? Let us do the heavy lifting and refer them to Source Code.
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