Educational Action of Homo Digitalis at the Music School of Larissa
In the context of Homo Digitalis’ actions for the awareness and information of students, our member Anastasios Arampatzis visited on February 9th the Music School of Larissa!
There, with more than 370 high school students, we discussed about digital bullying and ways of dealing with this phenomenon, as well as about our digital footprint and the rights provided by the legislation for the protection of personal data.
The discussion covered broader topics such as AI, the use of cameras, the ethics of using technology and more. The students have excellent knowledge on many topics but also have key questions and concerns to which they are seeking answers!
We would like to thank the Headmistress of the School, the Teachers’ Association and the EPAS Schools – Ambassadors of the European Parliament team for the invitation and hospitality!
Our participation in the second SNFCC Youth Council Slam on Artificial Intelligence was a great success
On February 4th we had the great pleasure to attend the second Slam of the SNFCC Youth Council (Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC)) on the topic of Artificial Intelligence!
There, Homo Digitalis’ Director of Human Rights and AI issues, Lambrini Yftokosta, spoke about Productive AI, legal issues related to the field of intellectual property, as well as ethical challenges that arise!
Many thanks to the SNFCC Youth Council team for the excellent organization of the event and the management of the discussion Stylianos Fragkioudakis Elina Syrri Ifigenia Kortesi !!!
5+ years of GDPR: Homo Digitalis comments on the European Commission's report
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was adopted in 2016 and became applicable on 25 May 2018.
It is the European Union’s key piece of legislation to protect the right to personal data protection. It is regarded as the most successful piece of legislation on this topic internationally, with many states using the GDPR as a basis for creating their own data protection legislation. The European Commission invited all stakeholders (public bodies, private companies, government agencies, civil society organisations, citizens, etc.) to provide feedback on the implementation of the GDPR over the years.
The comments will be used by the European Commission to prepare a report with the aim of evaluating the implementation of the GDPR and its possible improvement. This report is expected to be published in mid-2024. Homo Digitalis was actively involved in providing comments. You can read a compilation of Homo Digitalis’ comments here.
Many thanks to our members Christos Zanganas, Avgi Saoulidou, Danae Skevi and Konstantinos Kakavoulis for their participation in this process!
We participated in an event organised by the European AI & Society Fund and Civitates in Brussels
Homo Digitalis was delighted to participate in a joint event organised by the European AI & Society Fund and Civitates last week in Brussels.
Funders and grantee organisations had the opportunity to discuss in person the developments of the civil society ecosystem working on technology and society. We talked about current and upcoming policy changes and how we can better mobilise our network to address the challenges and shape a better future!
We were represented at the event by our Director for Human Rights & AI, Lamprini Gyftokosta!
Homo Digitalis speaks about the Safer Internet Day 2024 at Pyrgettos Gymnasium and Lyceum
Part A’
Today is Safer Internet Day and Homo Digitalis was once again in many different schools in Greece, completely voluntarily, to talk to students and teachers about our digital rights with the presentations “digital footprint” and “cyberbullying”.
Homo Digitalis and our member Anastasios Arabatzis visited Pyrgettos High School and Lyceum and we were surprised by the active participation and interest of the public in our activities.
Homo Digitalis talks about Safer Internet Day 2024 at the Hellenic American Educational Foundation Athens College - Psychico College Primary School.
Part B’
Today is Safer Internet Day and Homo Digitalis was once again in many different schools in Greece, completely voluntarily, to talk to students and teachers about our digital rights with the presentations “digital footprint” and “cyberbullying”.
Homo Digitalis and our members Kostas Kakavoulis, Lamprini Gyftokosta, Nikoleta Georgakopoulou and Ariana Rapti visited the elementary school of the Hellenic American Educational Foundation Athens College – Psychico College.
Our participation in the Privacy Camp in Brussels for another year
Last week we attended the Privacy Camp in Brussels, one of the most important annual meetings in the field of digital rights internationally, organized by European Digital Rights in collaboration with the Research Group on Law, Science, Technology & Society (LSTS) at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Privacy Salon, Institute for European Studies, ULB (IEE-ULB), Institute for Information Law (IViR) at UvA and the Racism and Technology Center!
There we had the pleasure to meet with EDRi network organisations and other civil society representatives, European institutions, academic institutions and other partners!
Homo Digitalis was represented at the meeting by our President, Elpida Vamvaka, and there we met with many of our members who participated in the meeting, including Alexandra Giannopoulou and Emilia Givropoulou.
Homo Digitalis' speech on Artificial Intelligence at an event organized by the Youth Council of the Stavros Niarchos Cultural Center
This Sunday 4/2 at 17:00-19:00 (free entrance without registration) the Youth Council of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) is organizing and curating a series of 4 short talks on AI at the Book Tower of the National Library of Greece!
Homo Digitalis was invited to speak on issues of intellectual property and legal personality of AI based on the latest developments where newspapers, artists and authors are suing companies like Open AI.
We will be represented at the event by AI & Human Rights Director Lamprini Gyftokosta.
The aim of the event is to have an open discussion with the audience and not just a monologue by the speakers! We look forward to seeing you in person and discussing these and many other topics with them:
-Panagiotis Koromilas, PhD candidate at the National Centre for Physical Sciences Research “Demokritos” NCSR “DEMOKRITOS”
-Orfeas Menis Mastromichalakis, PhD candidate and researcher at the Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence and Learning Systems of the National Technical University of Athens and
-Maria Mavropoulou , visual artist
The Greek DPA discussed in a Plenary Session our Case on Electronic Communications Metadata Retention
Yesterday, Tuesday 14/11, we were present at the Plenary Session of the Greek DPA during which our case concerning the retention of electronic communications metadata and the right of access to them was discussed. Our Secretary, Eleftherios Chelioudakis, who is the Data Subject in this case, participated there.
In simple terms, metadata allows us to establish who spoke to whom, via which devices, when, for how long, and where the users were approximately located during their conversation. Therefore, metadata is not about the content of the communication but about all the other accompanying elements of the communication. All electronic communications providers in Greece are required to keep it for one year from the date of the communication.
The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in 2014 that the retention of this amount of metadata for everyone, everywhere and always, constitutes a mass surveillance measure that allows for particularly accurate conclusions to be drawn with regard to the privacy of the persons whose data has been retained, and violates the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, ruling Directive 2006/24, which allowed for this, as invalid.
However, the Greek State has not revised until today, almost 10 years later, the Law 3917/2011 that transposes this Directive into the Greek legal landscape, while as Homo Digitalis revealed in 2019 the relevant legislative committee that was asked to prepare a new draft law, an explanatory memorandum and an impact assessment on this matter ever delivered any work in the 5 years of its existence (2014-2019).
We look forward with great interest to the next stages of the process and have full confidence in the work of the Greek DPA.