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Last week’s firing of the federal contractor who deactivated Trump’s twitter has prompted a discussion about the rise of contract labor across the nation. Not long after, Juli Briskman, a former employee of the federal contractor Akima, was fired for making an offensive hand gesture to the parade of presidential escort vehicles in her northern Virginia neighborhood. Whistleblower Edward Snowden, who formerly worked for the consulting firm Booze Allen Hamilton, released a tweet in solidarity with Briskman’s act of defiance. All three were subcontractors for technology firms. The tech industry was one of the first to heavily use subcontractors, and Silicon Valley corporates praise the practice, arguing that it allows workers more flexible schedules and offers them a way to pursue entrepreneurial endeavors. But critics say that subcontracted work is stressful and unpredictable, and it distances the primary business from legal responsibility for the treatment of workers. Silicon Valley companies still heavily depend on this form of work, and activists say that subcontractors need to band together to push back against the particular vulnerability they face under this system of employment.