Axios

On Friday, three managers in Uber's security division resigned, as Reuters first reported and the company confirmed to Axios. A fourth, head of global threat operations Mat Henley, reportedly is now on a three-month medical leave.

Between the lines: Though an Uber spokesperson stressed that the resignations aren't related to any ongoing investigations and completely voluntary, it's not hard to see that the security team has been under tremendous pressure, scrutiny recently. Last week the company fired its security chief for concealing a 2016 data breach, and earlier this week, Uber's new chief legal officer blasted the company's old surveillance tactics for gathering information about competitors, which came to light via its ongoing legal battle with rival Waymo (though none of the managers resigning worked on the team referenced in this week's court hearings).

Verily Life Sciences, Alphabet's biotech and health data startup, hired D.C. lobbying shop Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas this week for various health care and data science issues, according to federal lobbying records — the first such lobbying registration for Verily. The company declined to comment.

Why it matters: Verily, by its nature of being tied to Google and Alphabet, is a highly watched health care startup still in its early stages that clearly wants to build its federal presence. It's not all smooth sailing, though. A STAT investigation from 2016 revealed many top employees have left Verily due to its "divisive" CEO Andy Conrad.

Worth noting: Robert Califf, a former FDA commissioner under President Obama, is an adviser at Verily.

President Trump addressed the rumors that his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson might be leaving, insisting that he's not going anywhere.

Why now: Reports surfaced yesterday that Tillerson was on his way out possibly "within a few weeks" and that he would be replaced by CIA Director Mike Pompeo.

The House Intelligence Committee approved a bill Friday along party lines that would reauthorize a central surveillance law, the Washington Post reports. It does change the law — known as Section 702 — but doesn't satisfy surveillance reform advocates, including in the tech industry.

The law is used to authorize the surveillance of electronic communications by foreign nationals abroad, but advocates worry about the programs picking up communications involving Americans as well.

Why it matters: If lawmakers don't address it, the law will expire at the end of the year.

Current Uber employees eligible to sell shares to SoftBank are only allowed to tender up to 50% of their holdings, while there are no such restrictions on outside investors or former employees, according to multiple sources. The vast majority of Uber employees are not eligible, because they received restricted stock units rather than stock options.

Bigger picture: For years there has been alignment of interests between current and former Uber employees, in terms of stock value. This restriction changes that dynamic.

When Amazon agreed to buy Whole Foods back in March, some viewed it as a death knell for grocery delivery unicorn Instacart (whose best known customer, at the time, was Whole Foods). We offered both a bull and a bear case — the former basically being that fear of the Bezos Borg would drive other grocers into Instacart's arms.

It seems the bull case was correct, as Instacart has been on a big customer acquisition spree. Two weeks ago it was Canadian chain Loblaw. Earlier this week it was U.S. giant Albertsons, which means Instacart is now partnered with five of North America's top six grocers. The only hold-out continues to be market leader Walmart, which seemingly would have the most to gain by taking some wind out of Amazon's sails.

China's embrace of big data and surveillance technologies has the country well on its way to creating the most impressive surveillance state in history.

Why it's happening: The Chinese Communist Party needs help from private sector firms, and those firms in turn need to stay in political good graces to be successful.

Though not as widely known as Web Summit or other international tech conferences, the Slush conference manages to draw 20,000 techies to Helsinki even in the cold and dark of late November. Walking the halls, you see all manner of Finnish startups, ranging from a sleep-tracking ring to a hub for virtual travel tours.

Why it matters: It's a testament to how Finland has tried to rebuild its tech sector, an area once dominated by Nokia. After missing out to Apple and Google in the smartphone race, Nokia shed its phone business and went through round after round of layoffs. It's remade itself as a network equipment maker, but only employs 6,000 people in Finland, down from 20,000 at its peak.