In October 2021, Privacy International together with Homo Digitalis, The Border Violence Monitoring Network, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and Sea-Watch submitted a complaint to the European Ombudsman, Ms Emily O’Reilly, calling on her to investigate programmes related to the provision of surveillance equipment and related expertise by the European Union to third countries.

These practices can lead to significant risks for vulnerable groups, such as human rights activists, in third states, and our action sought to investigate whether due diligence and necessary human rights impact assessments were carried out by EU organisations before they formulated these ‘cooperation’ programmes.

It is a great honour and pleasure that the European Ombudsman has decided to investigate our case and shed light on these practices. You can see the relevant communication here.

We recall that at the same time, we had also submitted an open letter to the European Data Protection Supervisor, Mr. Wojciech Wiewiórowski, informing him of our actions!

Homo Digitalis has received an invitation to participate on 10 November in the online regional consultation organised by Chatham House and EU Cyber Direct Project on a new International Cybercrime Convention. The consultation is being held in light of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 74/247 and aims to inform the relevant law-making work that will begin in 2022.

Our member Anastasios Arabatzis will represent Homo Digitalis in the consultation.

Homo Digitalis was a guest on the radio show of the Hellenic League for Human Rights on October 10, 2021.

The Hellenic League for Human Rights is the oldest human rights organization in our country, founded in 1953. Every Sunday at 20.00-21.00 it conducts the radio show “Rights on FM” on the air of the Athens 9.84 radio station.

On Sunday 10 October 2021, Konstantinos Kakavoulis and Dimitris Dosas spoke with Fotini Kokkinaki about the recent incident of the Facebook platform not operating, the rights of users on online platforms, as well as about whistleblowers.
We would like to thank the Hellenic League for Human Rights for hosting us.

We were delighted to accept the invitation of the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL) to be a member of the Trustworthy AI Working Group within the framework of the Mozilla Festival!

The group’s work will begin in October 2021! If Homo Digitalis received an invitation to participate, there is also an open application process to join the working group and any organisation interested in taking part can submit their application here.

On 18 and 19 October, the EDEN Conference of the Europol European Data Protection Experts Network (EDEN) is organised in Rome by Europol and the Academy of European Law (ERA).

The conference addresses issues related to the protection of personal data in the field of law enforcement action, and this year’s title is ‘Human after all: Data Protection in Policing’.

Homo Digitalis has the great honour and pleasure to participate in the panel “(Doin’ it right) Making sure good cops are hunting bad guys – not any other way around”. The panel is chaired by the Data Protection Officer and Head of Europol’s Data Protection Unit, Daniel Drewer, and features high-profile speakers, namely Professor Joe Cannataci (UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Privacy), Dr. Nora Ni Loideain (Director of the Information Law & Policy Centre at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, School of Advanced Study) and Ms. Eline Chivot (Senior Adviser on Digital Policy at European People’s Party).

We will be represented at the conference by our co-founding member and Secretary of our Board, Lefteris Chelioudakis.

We would like to thank the organisers for their kind and honourable invitation to Homo Digitalis and in particular Mrs. Alkmini Giannis and Mr. Jan Ellermann.

You can see the conference programme here.

Following the investigation by Forbiden Stories and Amnesty International and the major revelations about the #PegasusProject and the use of NSO’s services by governments and other clients for illegal spying purposes, over 170 organisations and experts, including Homo Digitalis, are today, 27 July 2021, co-signing a joint letter calling on states to suspend the purchase, transfer and use of surveillance technologies!

Read the text of the letter and learn more about the #PegasusProject here.

From August 2 to September 30, 2021, an excellent educational event will take place online, with top speakers, including many members of the Council of Europe’s Standing Committee on Artificial Intelligence (CAHAI)!

The summer school is organized by Istanbul Bilgi University under the auspices of the Global Network of Internet & Society Centers, the leading association of research centers in the field of law and new technologies worldwide.

Registration is open until Monday 26 July!

We would like to thank Prof. Leyla Keser and her team for the kind invitation and the excellent cooperation within the CAHAI working groups!

Homo Digitalis will participate in a panel taking place on September 23 along with the excellent Francesca Fanucci and Daniel Leufer from European Center for Not-for-Profit Law Stichting and Access Now respectively. Our organization will be represented by our co-founding member and board secretary Lefteris Helioudakis.

You can see the program, speakers and register ;until 26/7 here.