What will Trump’s presidency mean for tech?

It is possible, normal even, to run for elected office in America without really going into too many specifics on policy. But once the election draws to a close, the winner’s task at hand becomes completely different. Suddenly a politician is defined less by what he is not (and he does seem the correct gender pronoun here) and increasingly more by what he is and does.
It’s a transformation we’re beginning to witness, right now, haltingly, with President-elect Donald Trump.
So here’s a question we in the tech scene in the District can now start asking with a new level of urgency — what will tech policy look like under Trump?
When Fortune compared the two nominees back in July, the basic takeaway was that “Republican Nominee Donald Trump’s platform and statements are, broadly, less tech-friendly than Clinton’s, with stances on trade, immigration and speech that could stifle innovation.” Marketplace, just days ago, said we don’t have nearly enough data to understand what President Trump’s tech policies could be.
But it’s an important conversation. To wit, D.C.’s Web Content Mavens group — a group of “managers, technologists, marketers and enthusiasts in web and mobile” — is holding a discussion on tech and the Trump presidency this coming Thursday, Nov. 17.
Rob Pegoraro, a freelance tech journalist, Colin Delany, the founder and editor of epolitics.com, Krystal Atha, cofounder of CommunityRED, and Lauren Jacobson, program director at General Assembly, will speak on the “possible impacts of a Trump administration on the technology industry broadly and on DC Tech in particular.”
The event will be held at the New York Code + Design Academy on 15th Street.
RSVP
Not able to make it? Join a similar conversation happening on the #dctech Facebook page. Mark Drapeau, of the 7th Street-based Application Developers Alliance, kicked off the conversation with this question:

Responses so far include concerns about the future of open data (which has been big for the Obama administration), the future of the U.S. Digital Service and much more.


Join the conversation.