Homo Digitalis focuses on promoting and defending human rights in the modern digital era in Greece. Through the three pillars of our actions, namely,

a) raising awareness,
b) shaping policy decisions, and
c) strategic legal interventions,

we aim to strengthen the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms for everyone, both in the digital and physical worlds, when new technologies, including artificial intelligence applications, are used by private or public entities.

Indicatively, Homo Digitalis has dealt with cases and initiatives in the past related to a wide range of digital rights, such as respect for privacy, personal data protection, intellectual property, freedom of expression and information, non-discrimination, the right to assembly, cybersecurity, net neutrality, free software and open-source software, and competition law issues, among others.

We support the innovations brought by new technologies and believe that they can contribute to improving our society in many areas, provided their use complies with the law and promotes and protects our rights and freedoms. Thus, we aim for a better world where adopting technological solutions results from critical thinking and informed, balanced decisions.

We started in March 2018 as a Civil Non-Profit Company based in Athens. For the first five years of our existence, our activities were supported solely through volunteer work. However, through the high quality of our interventions and our specialized knowledge, we achieved numerous successes, awards, and collaborations, establishing ourselves as the most recognized Civil Society organization in Greece for protecting human rights in the digital age.

For example, in terms of raising awareness, we have participated in educational activities involving more than 15,000 people in Greece, co-organized campaigns at the European level (such as the ReclaimYourFace Citizens’ Initiative) to inform citizens about their digital rights, given interviews to major international and national media, and spoken as experts at prominent conferences in Greece and abroad.

Regarding shaping policy decisions, we achieved legislative reform in Greece. Following our actions, the Greek Data Protection Law (Law 4624/2019) was revised, allowing for a higher level of protection for individuals when law enforcement authorities process personal data.

Finally, in terms of strategic legal interventions, our complaint led the Greek Data Protection Authority to impose its largest-ever fine of 20 million euros against CLEARVIEW AI. Other significant successes include a fine of 175,000 euros imposed on the Ministry of Migration and Asylum for the KENTAYROS and HYPERION systems.

These successes helped us attract the interest of major foundations and enabled us to have full-time staff and paid external collaborators who play a critical role in our operations alongside our Board of Directors and volunteer network.

Homo Digitalis is the only full member in Greece of European Digital Rights (EDRi), the largest international association of organizations defending and promoting digital rights. We are also members of the South East Europe (SSE) Digital Rights Network and the Europeana Network Association (ENA). We collaborate with numerous universities, think tanks, research centers, civil society organizations, companies, and public bodies in Greece and abroad, as well as European Union institutions and international organizations like the Council of Europe (observer members of the Artificial Intelligence Committee) and the OSCE.