Open letter on net neutrality addressed to the European Commission and BEREC
Two years since the entry into force of the new rules on net neutrality, the European Commission has launched today, the 03.04.2019 their report regarding the implementation of these provisions by the Member States.
Unfortunately, the Commission’s report on open internet doesn’t provide the necessary deep analysis, which one would have expected. Specifically, it comes, in spite of its size, to general and superficial conclusions without addressing any issues of the omissions of the concerned Member States, including our country, concerning the implementation of these provisions.
These shortcomings have been underlined to recent corresponding studies carried out by recognised organisations of civil society, such as of Epicentre.works.
As a reaction to the situation which has been established and in order to express openly the risks that arise in the European Union, concerning net neutrality, 29 organisations of civil society, Homo Digitalis included, sent today an open letter addressed to the European Commission and the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC).
The letter stresses out the need to ensure in practice the protection of Internet users (natural and legal persons), in order the Internet traffic to comply with the principle of non-discrimination. The letter’s purpose is to reopen the debate with the European institutions for the upcoming revision of BEREC’s guidelines, and shall be an opportunity of improvement in the problematic situation that has occurred.
What we hope is a real digital single market that protects and promotes the open, neutral and non-discriminatory access to the Internet.
The full text of the letter is available here.
Homo Digitalis in a meeting with the Secretary General of the Ministry of Justice
Today, 29.03.2019, Homo Digitalis had a very interesting and important meeting with the Secretary General of the Ministry of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights, Mr. George Sarlis, regarding the draft law which implements the GDPR and incorporates Directive 2016/680/EU.
Konstantinos Kakavoulis and Stefanos Vitoratos represented our organization and advocated for the adoption of regulations aimed at providing citizens with more protection. Stay tuned for more details.
Homo Digitalis at Ionidios School of Piraeus
Today, 27 March 2017, Homo Digitalis conducted a presentation to students of 12-15 years in Ionidios School of Piraeus concerning Cyberbullying and the proper use of the Internet and personal data. Students took a great deal of interest in this matter, while many of them remained after the layoff to discuss with Kimonas Georgakis, Panagiotis Gialis and Konstantinos Kakavoulis, who conducted the presentation for our organisation.
Warm thanks to Mr. Dimitris Zografopoulos, DPO at the Ministry of Health, for the invitation and the exceptional co-presentation!
In the coming months, Homo Digitalis will conduct many school presentations about digital rights and their protection.
Stay tuned!
Homo Digitalis in the European Parliament #SaveYourInternet #Pledge2019
Many members of Homo Digitalis who live in Belgium organized important meetings with Greek MEPs arguing against Article 13 of the new copyright directive of the EU.
Representatives of large civil society organizations that have taken significant actions on the protection of human rights in the modern digital age were in the European Parliament these days.
All together we gave a loud message against internet censorship and against violation of privacy and freedom of expression and information.
The number of MEPs who have committed to vote against Article 13 on Tuesday’s vote (26/03) is rising. Independent MEPs or representatives of European parties from every political area such as Greens-European Free Alliance(Greens-EFFA), European United Left-Nordic Green Left(GUE-NGL), European People’s Party (EPP), Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe(ALDE) have openly expressed their opposition to Article 13.
We must unite our voices to claim our rights!
Homo Digitalis joins forces with Statewatch, Privacy International, Digital Courage and ApTI
We sent an open letter to call on MEPs in the European Parliament Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE) to oppose to the introduction of mandatory fingerprinting for national identity cards.
Mandatory fingerprinting is prescribed in the proposal for a Regulation on strengthening the security of identity cards of Union citizens and of residence documents issued to Union citizens and their family members exercising their right of free movement.
The voting is on 11th March.
Pledge2019.eu: Voters poised to make upload filters a dealbreaker in EU elections
Millions of Europeans are on record rejecting “upload filters” on the internet, which the European Parliament is set to vote on just weeks ahead of the EU elections. Today, Austrian digital rights NGO epicenter.works and partner organisations from across Europe, including Homo Digitalis, are launching the campaign Pledge2019.eu, inviting representatives to pledge to reject upload filters, and voters to reach out with a clear message: We will only vote for politicians who vote against this attack on our freedom of speech.
Pledge2019.eu allows voters from all EU member states to call their representatives free of charge and ask them to pledge to reject Article 13 of the controversial EU Copyright Directive.
“Europeans have made their opposition to upload filters crystal clear in a petition that is closing in on a record-breaking 5 million signatures. However, a malicious rumor circulating in Brussels dismisses these concerned citizens as ‘bots’. That made it necessary to empower voters to speak directly to their representatives, removing all doubt that they are real and that this issue is of real consequence to them”, says Bernhard Hayden, copyright expert at epicenter.works.
“Article 13 threatens the foundations of the free and open internet”, Hayden explains: ”It will leave websites and apps no choice but to install upload filters, effectively censorship machines that must approve anything users wish to post or upload. Levied with the impossible task to prevent any and all copyright infringement before it happens, these filters will inevitably block thousands of legitimate acts of free expression. Diversity online is additionally at risk as small platforms may cave under the onerous obligations and legal uncertainty.”
The final vote in the European Parliament may take place as early as March, with the exact date yet to be announced. The 751 representatives from 28 member states will have the option to reject the entire project or remove the most controversial articles.
“The opposition to Article 13 is not fake, it’s not mere clicktivism, and it’s certainly not in service of any corporate interest – it’s Europeans participating in EU democracy and standing up for their fundamental rights. Seven years ago, citizens successfully defeated the ACTA treaty. This year, they will again make their voices heard”, says Hayden.
Homo Digitalis participates additionally in the #SaveYourInternet campaign.
Watch the campaign's video!
Homo Digitalis at the annual meeting of Digital Freedom Fund
Homo Digitalis had the pleasure and honour to participate at the annual developing strategy meeting, by the organisation Digital Freedom Fund in Berlin. The most prominent civil society organizations at Member State level of the Council of Europe took part in the meeting, focusing their attention on the protection of human rights in the digital era.
Representatives from 48 organisations, including our co-founder Lefteris Chelioudakis, exchanged views and planned future joint actions in sectors, such as the interventionism of national law enforcement authorities through the use of new technologies (face identification systems, algorithmic profiling, video camera applicable to human body), net neutrality and the implementation of the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The meeting lasted two days and our organisation had the opportunity to create new alliances and to share ideas and knowledge with specialists from the sector. Our warm thanks to the organisation Digital Freedom Fund for inviting us to take part. Homo Digitalis is the first Greek organisation invited to this meeting.
Following the two-day meeting, a consultation with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights Mr. Philip Alston, which Homo Digitalis had also the honour to attend. Discussions on issues concerning the digital services of a welfare state, the negative effects of the automated decisions and the use of algorithms also took place.
Homo Digitalis at a meeting with the Special Regulatory Committee for the Draft Law on Data Protection
On 21 February 2019, Homo Digitalis had the honour, upon invitation of the Special Regulatory Committee of the Ministry of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights, to meet with the Committee and to present its views regarding the Draft Law, which incorporates the GDPR and the EU Directive 2016/680.
Our organisation was represented by Konstantinos Kakavoulis and Stefanos Vitoratos, who advocated for the adoption of provisions who would enhance citizens’ protection.
Discussions will continue within the next few days.
Homo Digitalis proposal on the Draft Law on Personal Data
On 18 February 2019, Homo Digitalis submitted a proposal for an amendment to the Draft Law on Personal Data Protection, implementing the General Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and incorporating Directive 2016/680/EU.
Specifically, Homo Digitalis proposed the inclusion on the Draft Law of the provision article 80, paragraph 2 of the GDPR. The provision provides that the described non-profit bodies regardless of any conferment by the data subject, meaning without his command, could:
-have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority (DPA in Greece)
-have the right to effective judicial redress against a legally binding decision of the supervisory authority (DPA in Greece)
-and have the right to effective judicial remedy against a controller or processor.
We consider that the adoption of the provision of GDPR Article 80, paragraph 2 is particularly important for non-profit bodies in Greece, as Homo Digitalis, to act as enforcement bodies and guards for the strict implementation of the law for personal data and to defend the rights of the data subject. The financial crisis that plagues Greek society in recent years, makes it particularly difficult and unsustainable for citizens to bear the cost for claiming their rights. Therefore, the paramount protection for data subject’s rights from abuses of natural and legal persons will be achieved through the establishment of rules that enable, under the EU legislator’s recommendations, non-profit bodies to act independently and without being subject to the need for relating assignments and mandates.
It is recalled that Homo Digitalis had submitted an open proposal on 20 April 2018, addressed to all Members of the Greek Parliament.
The proposal was notified to the President of the special regulatory Committee for the draft law on the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the incorporation into the national law of Directive 2016/680/EU, Mr. P. Filopoulos, and the members of the committee, to the President of Greek Parliament, Mr. N.Voutsis, and to the Minister of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights, Mr. M.Kalogirou.
We are very optimistic that the proposal of Homo Digitalis will be seriously taken into consideration and the provision of paragraph 80, paragraph 2 will be incorporated in the final draft law.
You can read the proposal of Homo Digitalis in Greek here.