Good morning.

(Want to get California Today by email? Here’s the sign-up.)

Happy 2019.

Last year was a big one in tech, as the Silicon Valley behemoths that drive large swaths of California’s economy faced mounting scrutiny over the way they handle our personal information and do business with one another.

But it felt almost overwhelming trying to get a handle on everything that came to light. So I asked Pui-Wing Tam, our Tech editor, to put the revelations into some context.

Jill Cowan: What was the most surprising thing your team uncovered this year and why?

Pui-Wing Tam: So much happened in tech in 2018 that it’s hard to know where to begin. But the story line that emerged that I found the most surprising was the increasing activism of tech workers.

Silicon Valley tech employees have historically seemed a docile lot, lured to the corporate campuses in Mountain View, Calif., San Jose and farther north in San Francisco by promises of fat compensation and a comfortable life.