Employers and investors who have a problem with this are going to have to weigh the cost of these restrictions against the cost of turning away high-value engineers who can afford to be selective about where they work.

During the hiring process, lots of employers are already giving candidates verbal assurances that their patents will only be enforced defensively. Now, software engineers have a practical way to demand that they make these assurances binding. Employers who fail to do so will have a much tougher time explaining themselves.

I'm probably going to start requiring this of any employers that I work for in the future.