Statements from our President, Elpida Vamvaka, at the 13th e-Business & Digital Marketing World 2024
The President of Homo Digitalis, Elpida Vamvaka, represented us with a speech at the 13th e-Business & Digital Marketing World 2024, with the central theme: “From WOW to HOW: e-commerce and digital marketing in the AI era!”, which was organized by SmartPress S.A. in December 2024.
Both her speech during the panel she participated in and the statements she gave to the organizers after the conference are now available.
You can view her statements here. You can view her speech and the panel she participated in (04:11:00) here.
The Award-Winning Cartoon Series Super-Cyber Kids Now Has Subtitles
The award-winning cartoon series Super-Cyber Kids, a production by ISC2 Hellenic Chapter, ICSI HELLAS S.A., and Homo Digitalis, with the support of ADACOM Cyber Security, Eurolife FFH, bora, and RESET CONSULTANTS, is now available with Greek subtitles! A big thank you to the amazing Panagiotis Soulos for this significant volunteer initiative!
- How can excessive use of social media negatively impact children’s performance in school or sports?
- Are there risks of personal data leaks and password theft when connecting to third-party WiFi networks?
- How do incidents of cyberbullying occur?
- What connection might cybersecurity have with the evolution of a war like the Trojan War?
- How can a teenage team win a soccer match by spying on their opponents’ social media?
Answers to all these questions and much more are provided in the five episodes of the series, available for free on our YouTube channels here.
Homo Digitalis Collaborates Once Again with the Digital World Summit Greece
We are delighted to announce that, for yet another year, the Digital World Summit Greece (DWS Greece) and Homo Digitalis are moving forward with a strategic partnership!
The Digital World Summit Greece (DWS Greece) aims to promote the democratic governance of new technologies. As a dialogue platform, it brings together diverse stakeholders and groups, shaping policies from the grassroots level to the top on issues related to artificial intelligence, platforms, the Internet of Things, and broader technological domains.
Homo Digitalis has actively supported DWS Greece since its inception, and it is a great honor for us to continue doing so dynamically. Together, we aim to contribute to the maturation of public discourse in Greece on issues related to digital rights.
You can learn more about the activities of the Digital World Summit Greece on their website, here.
Participation of Homo Digitalis in the 52nd Book Festival
Homo Digitalis has the great honour to be present at the 52nd Book Festival taking place at the Pedion tou Areos.
Specifically, on Thursday 19 September at 20:15, our co-founder and President Elpida Vamvaka will participate as a speaker in a round table organized on the main stage of the festival by the Association of Book Publishers (S.E.B.) & the Hellenic Comics Academy on the topic “Is art written with AI?”
The discussion will be moderated by Panagiotis Papageorgiou (Lawyer, Member of the Greek Comics Academy) and Dimitris Doukoglou (illustrator, presenter, stand-up comedian).
Other important speakers of the round table include Vassilis Vlahokyrikakos (Associate Professor of Human-Computer Interaction) , Abraham Kawa (Author, Translator & Theorist of Culture) and George Nathaniel (IT and Management Consultant).
You can find out more about the full Festival programme here.
We participated in European Commission’s roundtable on the DSA enforcement
Last Monday, the 8th of July, Homo Digitalis was invited to participate in the European Commission’s Roundtable on the implementation of the Digital Services Act.
During the roundtable, the European Commission presented an updated of the various steps taken on DSA enforcement so far, highlighting how Civil Society Organizations can act as an important ally in this field. Also, the EC provided an updated on the A.28 Guidelines with regard to the Protection of Minors.
Next, the CSOs that participated in the roundtable had the opportunity to share with the European Commission their current activities, expertise and project capacities in key areas of the implementation of the DSA and exchange views on activities and plans.
We would like to thank the European Commission for this important opportunity to engage with CSOs and their kind invitation to participate in this roundtable. It remains to be seen if national authorities at Greek level, will follow a similar approach and invite Homo Digitalis and other CSOs to a fruitful dialogue with regard to the enforcement of the DSA and the Greek Law 5099/2024.
Our team was represented in the roundtable by Eleftherios Chelioudakis.
We give a lecture at the OSCE's three-day training seminar on the protection of human rights at the borders
The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) organizes next week its training course for human rights defenders working at international borders in Warsaw! The three-day training course aims to enable human rights defenders to understand the human rights implications of border technologies and to improve their skills in collecting and verifying information through various means, including new technologies, for effective human rights monitoring at borders.
On a pro bono basis, Homo Digitalis and HIAS Greece will give a lecture during the training course related to our great success with the KENTAUROS and HYPERION case!
Our lecture titled “Combating Centaurs and Titans – Leveraging Data Protection Law to Counter Intrusive Surveillance in Migration” will focus on how data protection law can be strategically employed to challenge invasive surveillance technologies used in migration. Eleftherios Chelioudakis will represent Homo Digitalis in this lecture.
We would like to thank the organizers for their kind invitation, as well as HIAS Greece for the great collaboration.
You can find more information about the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) here.
We want access to essential services to be guaranteed offline too!
In the beginning of June, Homo Digitalis joined a large number of orgsanisations calling the European Commission, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament to guarantee access to essential services offline!
Public administration, banks and energy suppliers, as well as employers, health providers and more, have moved online, and counters, mail services and phone lines are disappearing. Yet, more than 40% of Europe’s population still lacks basic digital skills, preventing them from accessing certain essential services. There is an urgent need to guarantee multichannel (incl. off-line) access to all essential services.
Yu can sign the related open letter here.
The coordinator of this action is Lire et Écrire, a Belgian based literacy organization. Since 1983, the organization provides free literacy trainings and research on illiteracy and literacy processes.
Requesting access to personal data stored by Europol: a guide
Europol is the European Union’s law enforcement cooperation agency.
Its main task is to receive, exchange and analyse information and data received from the national police authorities of EU Member States, international organisations such as Interpol, third countries and private companies. This is done in order to support national law enforcement authorities “in preventing and combating organised crime, terrorism and other forms of serious crime”.
But Europol’s powers have been steadily increasing over the last decade, which has led to it playing an increasingly important role in police activities and operations. This includes processing data on civilian activities, travel passengers, as well as third country nationals.
This guide is addressed to activists, lawyers and all interested individuals who wish to have access to personal data processed by Europol concerning themselves or their clients. The guide provides a brief overview of the relevant policy framework, as well as advice and information on the procedure for requesting access to personal data, relevant resources and a model application form.
This guide was produced by Romain Lanneau, Statewatch and Chloé Berthélémy, EDRi with contributions from Chris Jones (Statewatch), Jesper Lund (IT-Pol), Caterina Rodelli (Access Now) and Laure Baudrihaye. Translated into Greek by the Homo Digitalis’ team on a pro bono basis.
You can read the guide in other languages here.
We participated at DFF’s Annual Strategy Meeting (ASM24)
We participated at DFF’s Annual Strategy Meeting (ASM24)
Two weeks ago, Homo Digitalis’ President, Elpida Vamvaka, was in Berlin at Digital Freedom Fund’s Annual Strategy Meeting (ASM24). We are grateful for the chance to engage in enriching dialogue with such inspiring fellow digital rights defenders working to propel human rights forward!
The meeting’s goals were to share meaningful exchanges and updates on digital rights topics, explore new opportunities to organise and collaborate at the intersection of racial, social, economic and environmental justice, to centre care, to safeguard well-being and to build resilience.
The meeting featured peer-driven highlights from DFF’s network, discussions mapping the 2024 landscape and beyond on digital rights issues, knowledge and skill sharing sessions, and a powerful panel on war crimes & digital rights. Stay tuned for the video coming soon!
Topics ranged from queer & trans*, labour, disability, environmental, welfare, prisoners’, children’s and migrants’ rights, to spyware, surveillance, digital policing, platform accountability, movement lawyering, organising for digital justice, and many more.
We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the organizers for inviting us, as well as to all individual participants and represented organisations for making this year’s Annual Strategy Meeting a success.