We call on the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Council of the EU to prioritise fundamental rights over profits
As the EU institutions move forward in “trilogue” negotiations, the last stage for the adoption of the proposed EU legislation on AI #AIAct, we are taking a stand again!
150 civil society organisations, including Homo Digitalis, are calling on the European Parliament, the European Commission and the EU Council to put people and their fundamental rights ahead of profits!
In the coming period we intend to take initiatives in this regard at national level as well! You can read our letter here.
Action24's documentary on Artificial Intelligence in which Homo Digitalis participates has been published
What are the challenges of using AI applications?
Why is a clear legal framework regulating AI necessary?
What does the draft EU Regulation provide for?
The answers in Action24’s documentary #ActionStory, in which Konstantinos Kakavoulis participated representing Homo Digitalis.
You can watch it in full here.
The European Parliament plenary voted to ban mass biometric surveillance in public places
The European Parliament plenary voted today on its text on the proposed legislation on Artificial Intelligence (AI Act).
The ban on mass biometric surveillance in public places in real time was adopted by the plenary with 335 votes in favour to 235 votes against. We are very proud of the outcome of this vote, despite the fact that there remain provisions in the proposed legislation that pose significant challenges to Human Rights!
But how did our representatives vote? On 25/5, Homo Digitalis had sent open letters to all Greek MEPs, so that no one can claim not to know what is at stake in today’s vote.
We are glad that MEPs Arvanitis, Kokkalis, Kouloglou, Kountoura, Kirtos, Papadimoulis, and Papandreou voted in favour of maintaining the position of the IMCO and LIBE Committees of the European Parliament on the ban. We are concerned that MEPs Vozemberg-Vryonidis, Zagorakis, Kefalogiannis, Meimarakis and Spyraki voted against maintaining this position, and we remain at their disposal to highlight with our positions and arguments the need for a ban on mass biometric surveillance in public places in real time without exceptions.
Nothing has been decided yet, however, as the trilateral negotiations are now beginning!
Our participation in the 8th Data Privacy & Protection Conference 2023
Homo Digitalis has the great pleasure and honor to participate in the 8th Data Privacy & Protection Conference 2023, on 31/05, at OTE Academy Amphitheatre!
There we will talk about Homo Digitalis’ actions before the DPA, giving a brief overview of our cases on Electronic Communications Metadata Preservation, Biometric Data Bases, Artificial Intelligence Systems, and much more!
We would like to thank the organizers BOUSSIAS, LAWYER | The Business Magazine for their honorary invitation and interest in our activities, as well as for providing a number of free invitations for our members!
Homo Digitalis will be represented in our presentation by our Board Secretary Eleftherios Chelioudakis
You can register and see the detailed agenda of the conference here.
We call on the IMCO & LIBE committees of the European Parliament to end biometric mass surveillance
Thursday (11/5) will be a landmark day for the protection of Human Rights, as the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) and the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE) of the European Parliament vote on the provisions of the proposed legislation on Artificial Intelligence (AI Act).
For more than 3 years now, the European Digital Rights network within the ReclaimYourFace campaign together with partners, including Homo Digitalis, have been actively advocating for a ban on mass biometric surveillance.
Today, we are one step closer to realising our demands and we call on Committee members to vote with the protection of everyone’s rights in mind!!
You can read more about our positions here.
Our Guest Lecture at a postgraduate course of National & Kapodistrian University of Athens
On Tuesday 2/5, Homo Digitalis participated with a guestlecture in the course “Migration and asylum governance in South-eastern Europe” of the English-language postgraduate programme “South-East European Studies: politics, history, economics” at the University of Athens. We would like to thank Professor Angeliki Dimitriadi for the kind and honorable invitation to participate in her course!
It was a unique feeling to see the great interest of the students in the activities of Homo Digitalis and our partners in the field of border management and their active participation in the discussion with questions! Awareness-raising activities like these remind us of the importance of developing fruitful partnerships between civil society and academic institutions!
We were represented at the guest lecture by the Secretary of the Board of Directors, Eleftherios Chelioudakis. We would also like to thank our member Asimina Koliniati who brought us in contact with the lecturer!
If you also have suggestions for joint awareness raising activities, you can contact us at “info@homodigitalis.gr”.
Homo Digitalis speaks for the 3rd consecutive year at RightsCon
Homo Digitalis speaks for the third consecutive year at RightsCon, the largest international conference for the protection of Human Rights in the modern digital age!
This year we are hosting our own session entitled “How to beat a Centaur? A closer look into technology-led border management in Greece”, in which we will talk about the use of new technologies, such as the KENTAYROS surveillance system, in the field of border management in Greece.
More than 1850 applications were received from organisations in 132 countries. The selection of our proposal by the organisers is a great honour and is another important recognition of our actions and our contribution to the protection of digital rights at an international level.
Our Board Secretary, Eleftherios Chelioudakis, will represent us at the session. We would like to thank the organizers for accepting our proposal!
RightsCon2023, organized by Access Now for the twelfth time this year, will take place with a physical presence in Costa Rica, while online participation is also possible. You can register and learn more about the program here.
Our speech at the Infocom Security Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Personal Data and Cybersecurity
For yet another year, Homo Digitalis has the great pleasure to be present at the Infocom Security Conference! The 13th edition of the conference, which is a benchmark in the field of information technologies in Greece, will take place on April 26 & 27 at the Athens Conservatory.
Our member, Dimitris Dosas, Infrastructure and Security Engineer will represent us in the 3rd session of the 1st day of the conference in the discussion panel “ArtificialIntelligence – CyberSecurity – DataProtection. where participants will highlight all the challenges and aspects related to AI and its correlation with security and privacy.
The panel includes leading experts, moderated by the excellent Vassilis Vassilopoulos, Journalist & DPO of ERT.
-Iliana Kostis Lawyer, PhD, University of Athens, Greece. Aegean Lawyer, PhD in Personal Data and Artificial Intelligence,
-Athanasios Kosmopoulos – Data Protection Officer of the Ministry of Digital Governance, National Representative at the European Cybersecurity Competence Center,
-Spyros Tassis, President of the Hellenic Association for Data Protection and Privacy (HADPP), and
-Leonidas Kanellos – President DPO Network.
We would like to thank the organizers for their kind invitation! You can register for free and learn more, here.
Joint Letter to the European Parliament on the AI Act
The European Parliament is preparing to vote on the proposed legislation on artificial intelligence #AIAct.
In a joint letter today, European Digital Rights and 75 other organisations, including Homo Digitalis, are sending a clear message to protect Human Rights and call on MEPs to pay due attention to the problematic provisions of the proposed text!
In order to do so, MEPs will have to vote:
-to strengthen the framework for the protection of Human Rights,
-on specific accountability and transparency obligations regarding the use of artificial intelligence systems,
-for a ban on the use of AI systems that pose unacceptable risks to the protection of everyone’s rights!
You can read the joint letter here.