Bidding Farewell to 2024 with Pride, Joy, and Endless Gratitude
This year has been filled with significant milestones and successes for Homo Digitalis. Together, we achieved:
Organizing, for the first time in Greece, the General Assembly of European Digital Rights—our network, which is a landmark for the protection of digital rights globally!
Strengthening our team with the hiring of our second employee, enhancing our capacity to drive meaningful change.
Publishing three detailed studies on #AIACT, contributing to the cultivation of an informed public dialogue in Greece.
Volunteering to speak at over 25 schools and engaging with more than 3,500 students, teachers, and parents from every corner of the country.
Promoting transparency and accountability, leading to the imposition of a €175,000 fine on the Ministry of Migration & Asylum for the KENTAUROS and HYPERION systems.
These moments remind us of what we can achieve when we work with vision, passion, and collaboration. We wholeheartedly thank all those who stood by our side—volunteers, partners, and supporters.
Let’s continue making history in 2025!
You can watch the related video we prepared here.
We Publish Our Third Study on the AI Act, Focusing on Article 5 & Prohibited Practices
Today, Homo Digitalis publishes its third study on Regulation 2024/1689, the now widely known AI Act, titled “AI Act: Analysis of the Provisions on Prohibited Practices under Article 5 of Regulation 2024/1689.”
The study’s authors are Sofia Antonopoulou, Lamprini Gyftokosta, Tania Skrapalioti, Eleftherios Chelioudakis, and Stavroula Chousou.
This analysis systematically examines each provision of Article 5 of the AI Act, covering manipulative or deceptive techniques, exploitation of vulnerabilities, social behavior scoring, facial recognition databases, crime prediction, emotion inference, biometric categorization systems, and remote biometric identification.
We provide targeted questions highlighting key aspects of these provisions, identifying “gray areas” where ambiguities, overlaps, or interpretative challenges arise. Additionally, we present concrete examples to support our concerns and formulate specific questions for clarification by the European Commission’s AI Office and national legislators.
Like our previous studies (published in October and November 2024), this study aims to assist the Ministry of Digital Governance in implementing the AI Act in Greece. Through in-depth analysis and well-founded arguments, we seek to enrich public debate and empower more civil society organizations to engage actively.
You can read our study “AI Act: Analysis of the Provisions on Prohibited Practices under Article 5 of Regulation 2024/1689” [here].
We Successfully Completed Our Voluntary Awareness Actions in 10 Schools Across Attica for the Period October–December 2024!
During this school year, from October 2024 to December 2024, Homo Digitalis focused its voluntary awareness efforts on schools in Athens!
With the invaluable support of Education Consultant Ms. Christina Kalfoglou, Psychologist Ms. Elina Kardara, and School Consultant Ms. Maria Panta, we visited 10 schools (public and private junior and high schools) and conducted 16 presentations for approximately 1,400 students, educators, and parents on the topics digital footprint and cyberbullying.
We learned a great deal about the apps children use and the risks they face on various social media platforms. We also discussed the challenges they encounter when trying to report issues on these platforms, often without resolving their problems!
Students shared incidents of cyberbullying and online violence with us, and we talked about ways to address and support them. Educators, on the other hand, expressed their concerns and raised thought-provoking questions regarding the use of mobile phones and artificial intelligence tools in schools.
Yesterday, we concluded our awareness actions for the first trimester of the 2024–2025 school year with an informational event at the 59th Junior High School of Athens, where we spoke with teachers and members of the parents association and teachers about the digital footprint, new digital risks such as deepfakes, misinformation, disinformation, and echo chambers, as well as the Kids Wallet initiative proposed by the Ministry of Digital Governance!
A big thank you to our members, board members, and employees: Sofia Antonopoulou, Niki Georgakopoulou, Lamprini Gyftokosta, and Konstantinos Kakavoulis for their active participation and outstanding contribution to these initiatives!
Together, we are building a safer and more informed digital community!
Homo Digitalis participated in AI Office’s consultation on Prohibited Practices under the AI Act
In November 2024, the European Commission’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Office launched a consultation on AI Act prohibitions and AI system definition.
The guidelines under development will help national competent authorities as well as providers and deployers in complying with the AI Act’s rules on such AI practices ahead of the application of the relevant provisions on 2 February 2025.
Homo Digitalis participated in this public consultation process by submitting our input, in an attempt to highlight challenges and provide further clarity on practical aspects and use cases.
The authors’ team of our public consultation is composed of our Director on Human Rights & Artificial Intelligence, Lamprini Gyftokosta and our members Sophia Antonopoulou and Stavrina Chousou.
You can read our input here.
Stay tuned, since our dedicated report on the AI Act and its provisions on Prohibited Practices is to be published soon!
The fifth open call of NGI TALER is here! Submit your application!
Got a groundbreaking idea for free software and privacy preserving projects that complement our mission as NGI TALER? Missed our first four funding calls? No worries!
NGI TALER’s 5th Open Call is live since 1st of December 2024 and you’ve got almost two month to apply. The deadline is 1st of February 2025, 12:00 CET (noon).
We’re on the lookout for proposals that will revolutionize digital payment systems and contribute to an open, trustworthy, and reliable internet for all.
NGI TALER is offering funding between 5,000 and 50,000 euros! Whether you’re a SME, academic, public sector entity, nonprofit, community, or an individual – we want your innovative ideas!
For example, you can enhance GNU Taler by developing auxiliary tools, improving user experience,creating integrations into FOSS applications (think P2P micropayments in instant messaging, social media platforms, or video conferencing tools), or boosting infrastructure components (like merchant backends), to name a few ideas.
For more info about this and other NGI funding calls, you can visit the NGI – The Next Generation Internet’s website here.
You can read the detailed Open Call, Guide for Applicants, Eligibility Requirements, and FAQs on NLnet Foundation’s website here
Last but not least, you can join our TALER Integration Community Hub (TALER ICH) to discuss and get your questions answered here.
Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity!
NGI TALER is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
Presentation to Educators in Larissa on Cyberbullying
On November 18th, at the invitation of the Educational Advisor for Primary School Teachers in Larissa, Ms. Vasiliki Pilatou, our member Anastasios Arampatzis delivered a presentation to sixth-grade teachers from Ms. Pilatou’s district on the topic of cyberbullying.
The educators expressed great interest in our initiatives and presentation, engaging with us in discussions on questions about cyberbullying as well as critical reflections on the current implementation of the Stop Bullying platform developed by the Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs, and Sports.
Homo Digitalis remains at the disposal of educators, parents, and students to inform them about their rights in the digital space and to highlight their concerns.
We publish our Second AI Act Study on market surveillance authorities and the AI governance ecosystem
Today Homo Digitalis publishes its second study on Regulation 2024/1689, the now well-known AI Act, entitled “AI Act: Analysis of Provisions for AI Governance and Competent Market Surveillance Authorities“.
The writing team for the study consists of Homo Digitalis’ Director of Human Rights and AI, Lamprini Gyftokosta, and our member Niki Georgakopoulou.
The purpose of this Homo Digitalis analysis is to highlight some of the critical issues raised by the implementation of the AI governance system provisions, taking into account national structures as well as the civil society perspective.
More specifically, in this analysis we answer the following questions:
- What governance structure does the Regulation propose for AI?
- What does the concept of ‘market surveillance authority’ mean for the AI Regulation?
- What is in Regulation 2019/1020 and why should we consider its provisions together with the AI Act?
- Which Greek authorities meet the requirements set out in the two Regulations and why?
- What governance models have been adopted or are under discussion in other jurisdictions at this time?
- What are our main concerns?
- What are our main suggestions for improvement?
We recall that on 12 November, the Department for Digital Government took the first official step in implementing the AI Act by publishing the list of national authorities for the protection of fundamental rights. These principles include: The Data Protection Authority, the Ombudsman, the Communications Privacy Authority and the National Human Rights Commission.
In this regard, as early as 25 October, with our first Study “Analysis and proposals for the incorporation of the provisions on impact assessment on fundamental rights in Greece“, we had already presented detailed proposals on this issue. If you did not have time to read our Study, we invite you to see the one-page summary we prepared, specifically for the National Fundamental Rights Authorities.
The Ministry’s publication was only the first step. The next critical obligation is the institutional design of the market surveillance authorities, which must be completed by August 2, 2025, in accordance with Article 113 of the Regulation.
The second Study that we are publishing today is precisely intended to assist the Ministry of Digital Governance, which has the task of carrying out the difficult task of synthesizing this ecosystem in Greece, but also, with our detailed analyses and arguments, to help mature the public debate and enable more civil society organizations to actively participate in it.
We are actively involved in the enforcement of the AI Act in Greece
On Tuesday 12 November, the Ministry of Digital Governance published the list of national authorities and bodies that enforce or supervise compliance with EU obligations to protect fundamental rights under Article 77 of the AI Regulation, appointing the Hellenic Authority for Communication Security and Privacy (ADAE), the Greek Data Protection Authority (DPA), the Greek National Commission for Human Rights (GNCHR) and the Greek Ombudsman (Ombudsman).
Already on 25 October, Homo Digitalis with its study “Analysis and proposals for the incorporation of the provisions on fundamental rights impacts assessment of the AI Act in Greece” had developed in detail its position on this issue and the related provisions.
If you did not have time to read the full text of our study, we have prepared a one-page summary of the National Fundamental Rights Authorities here.
We underline that this publication by the Ministry of Digital Governance was both the first obligation for the implementation of the AI Act at the national level and the first step in the creation of an effective national AI governance and oversight system. A second and most important obligation is that of the institutional design of the market surveillance authorities which, according to Article 113(b) of the AI Regulation, should be completed by August 2, 2025. By then, the notifying authorities should also be appointed.
Homo Digitalis has been researching this issue for months now and we will soon publish our detailed analysis!
Our purpose? To assist decision makers with our expertise in the relevant issues, as well as to equip other Civil Society organizations in Greece with arguments and knowledge!
Eleftherios Chelioudakis of Homo Digitalis as a Trainer in a second OSCE ODIHR Training on Personal Data & Border Management
From October 29 to 31, Eleftherios Chelioudakis, our Co-founder and Executive Director, participated as a trainer in a training session organized by the international organization OSCE, specifically its Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). The training explored the use of new technologies at international borders, as well as the risks and opportunities they pose for Human Rights.
In our five presentations, we focused on the technologies used at borders, the Human Rights impacted by these uses, the provisions of the GDPR and Directive 2016/680 LED, the significant decision by the Hellenic Data Protection Authority (HDPA) regarding the “KENTAYROS” and “YPERION” systems, as well as technical tools that human rights defenders can use in their work!
We extend our heartfelt thanks to the participants for their dynamic presence, to the team of outstanding trainers Nikola Kovačević, Djordje Alempijevic, and Arancha Garcia del Soto for their knowledge and expertise, and to the organizing team, Lola Girard and Veronica Grazzi, for their impeccable organization and contributions. It is a great honor for us to participate!
You can learn more here.