Five must-read stories from the intersection of tech, business and politics

From the EU’s war on encryption to Facebook’s threat to pull out of Europe, NS Tech finds the key developments from this week. 

The EU is set to declare war on encryption

The EU is set to declare war on encryption with plans to allow law enforcement officials “targeted lawful access” to protected communications, according to a European Commission internal note.

Will Facebook really pull out of Europe?

Facebook is threatening to pull the plug on its operations in Europe following a court order demanding it stops transferring data to the US. But experts doubt the strategy will be effective.

‘Taking funding from Big Tech is problematic,’ says inaugural director of Oxford AI ethics institute

The inaugural director of Oxford University’s Institute for Ethics in AI has signalled his opposition to the practice of Silicon Valley giants funding tech ethics research.

NHSX launches recruitment drive for senior policy officials

NHSX, the tech unit tasked with overseeing the health service’s digital transformation, has launched a recruitment drive for senior policy officials.

The biggest govtech deals of the week

In partnership with GlobalData, we’ve drilled down into the most valuable tenders and awards from the last seven days. Here’s what we found this week.