Barbrook and Cameron claim that the demo cratic emancipation fantasized about by “hi-tech artisans” excludes the mostly nonwhite underclass who cannot afford computers and internet access. It is well known that the Silicon Valley culture depends on undocumented labor to build microchips, clean offices, and mow the lawns of technology workers relocated from Bangalore, Shanghai, Dublin, and Des Moines—even though these undocumented workers rarely appear in rapturous press descriptions of the area. The authors of The Silicon Valley of Dreams note that while one narrative of Silicon Valley focuses on wealth, egalitarianism, and brilliant ideas, the other describes “a place of considerable human suffering, preventable illness and premature death, the exploitation of thousands of workers, widespread ecological devastation, and increasing social inequality.”

Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, loc. 119