Keep On Rockin’ in the Free World
By 
Some companies are now making interns sign noncompete agreements:
As a junior in college, Delaney Dunne took an internship for class credit and $10 an hour at co-working company TekMountain in Wilmington, N.C.
On graduation day this year, she received a letter from TekMountain’s parent asking about her employment status and reminding her she had signed a noncompete agreement with TekMountain in November 2017 that restricted her employment options.
“I burst into tears hours before I was set to graduate from college,” Ms. Dunne, 22, said. “That noncompete (agreement) that I signed when I was 20 years old was still haunting me.”
Internships have long been an opportunity for inexperienced workers to try out different industries and build valuable contacts. For companies, it is a way to attract future talent.
Even if state courts ultimately won’t enforce them, they have a chilling effect on the decisions of individuals.
Anyway, California has the correct position on this, although admittedly this overbearing regulation of business has rendered the state an economic dead zone with no tech industry to speak of.