100+ organizations in a joint statement for COVID-19
On April 2, more than 100 civil society organizations, including Homo Digitalis, signed a joint statement for privacy issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The organizations include among others Access Now, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Privacy International, European Digital Rights (EDRi) and Homo Digitalis.
The statement is available here.
Homo Digitalis signs the ΕΑΙD Declaration
On 29 March, Homo Digitalis signed the European Academy for Freedom of Information and Data Protection (ΕΑΙD) Declaration on personal data protection and freedom of information during the COVD-19 pandemic.
The letter calls all of us to stay vigilant so that the encounter of COVID-19 measures does not violate human rights. The civil rights and liberties are inherent to modern democracies and should be protected even under the serious pandemic we are facing.
Many prominent scientists and human rights advocates sign the declaration.
The declaration is available here.
Joint Letter to the Council of the EU on TERREG
On March 27, European Digital Rights (EDRi) and many more civil society organizations, including Homo Digitalis, sent a joint letter to the Council of the EU regarding the suggested EU Terrorist Content Regulation (TERREG).
In the letter, we note our grave concerns regarding the suggested text, as well as privacy, freedom of expression and freedom of information concerns.
You may read the letter in the EDRi website or here.
Request for the Greek DPA's opinion on the Greek Police Agreement on Smart Policing
Today, 19.03.2020, Homo Digitalis filed a request to the President of the Greek DPA for the issue of an opinion regarding the agreement for the provision of smart policing systems between the Greek Police and INTRACOM TELECOM
This agreement provides for the processing of citizens’ biometric data (fingerprints and photos) through portable devices, among others.
It is essential that the Greek DPA provides its opinion on the issue, taking into account the important privacy challenges for all data subjects in Greece.
The full text of our request in Greek is available here.
Letter to Greek ministers for the TERREG text
Today, 09.03.2020, Homo Digitalis sent a letter to the Minister of Civil Protection, the Minister of Justice and the Permanent Representation of Greece in the EU concerning important safeguards that should be taken into account in the TERREG text.
With this letter we underline various provisions in the suggested text, which might be extremely harmful for privacy, freedom of expression and freedom of information.
The said letter is aligned to the positions expressed by European Digital Rights (EDRi) as well as the pertinent Opinion of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA).
Homo Digitalis at 4th Data Protection & Privacy Law Forum
The 4th Law Forum on Data Protection & Privacy took place in Athens on February 26, 2020.
The conference was organized by Palladian Conferences with the support of Homo Digitalis.
Stefanos Vitoratos, vice-president of our organization, represented Homo Digitalis, speaking about the importance of raising awareness of the public in order for data controllers to achieve compliance.
Maria-Alexandra Papoutsi, Vasilis Vasilopoulos and Dimitris Patsos, also members of our organization, participated at the conference, under their professional capacities.
Call to Greek political parties: Reconsideration of the Data Protection Law
On February 24, Homo Digitalis and “EKPIZO” Consumers’ Union sent a joint letter to the Greek Prime Minister and all leaders of the parliamentary political parties, requesting the immediate reconsideration of Law 4624/2019 on data protection.
The necessity for such a reconsideration stems from the Opinion 1/2020, issued by the Greek Data Protection Authority, which found Law 4264/2019 to be in contravention with the GDPR and Directive 2016/680 on various occasions.
The letter was also communicated to the President of the Greek Data Protection Authority, Mr. Konstantinos Menoudakos.
You may read the letter in Greek here.
Homo Digitalis in the 7th Information Security Conference
On 19 February 2020 the 7th Information Security Conference took place in Evgenidis Foundation in Athens.
The conference was organized by Boussias Communications and with the support of Homo Digitalis.
Mr. Konstantinos Kakavoulis represented our organization, speaking about the importance of information security in our culture. Mr. Kakavoulis underlined that “cybersecure at home means cybersecure at work.”
Three more Homo Digitalis members attended the conference.
Homo Digitalis educates the teachers in Chania
On 14 February Homo Digitalis was invited to speak to the teachers of primary and secondary education in Chania, Crete.
In the morning session, Elpida Vamvaka and Konstantinos Kakavoulis spoke to the teachers regarding the digital footprint and its importance for our digital personality.
They explained in a practical way how the teachers can protect themselves, but also how they can educate their students to gain control of their personal data.
In the afternoon session, they spoke to parents and children regarding the right to access and the right to erasure.
Two more Homo digitalis members participated in the seminar, with Anthi Strataki and Dimitris Grammenos, presenting the interactive workshop “GDPR and the 40 thieves”, while Giorgos Perrakis, lawyer and Homo Digitalis member, attended the seminar.
