Open letter: The dangers of age verification proposals to fundamental rights online

Today, Homo Digitalis joined EDRi and other 62 organisations and experts urge the European Commission to halt proposals for using age verification tools when implementing DigitalServicesAct and eIDAS.

Evidence and lived experiences show these tools are dangerous, discriminatory and unsafe:

-Exclusive: Document-based verification excludes those without IDs, worsening the digital divide
-Invasive: Their ‘accuracy’ relies on processing vast amounts of personal data, threatening our right to online anonymity
-Pose privacy risks: Age estimation methods often use sensitive data like biometrics, which are prone to errors & bias.
-Discriminatory: Biometric-based approaches can be biased, based on gender, race, or disability.

Age Verification tools aren’t a silver bullet for addressing children’s needs online. Read more in the open letter here.


We spoke to the newspaper Kathimerini and journalist Vassilis Andrianopoulos about cyber-bullying

Konstantinos Kakavoulis, co-founder and Treasurer of the Board of Directors of Homo Digitalis, gave comments to the newspaper Kathimerini and journalist Vassilis Andrianopoulos on cyber-bullying and Homo Digitalis’ related pro bono actions.

We would like to thank the newspaper Kathimerini and the journalist for their interest in our actions.

You can read the article here.

 


The third round of NGI TALER Funding Applications is now open! Deadline is October 1!

Do you have an idea for a project based on free software and privacy principles that is relevant to the NGI TALER mission, but you missed our first two open calls for funding?

You still have the chance to make your idea a reality!!! NGI TALER’s 3rd open call for funding has been open since the beginning of June and the deadline for submitting proposals is 1 October , at 12:00 CET (Brussels noon).

We invite you to help reshape the state of digital payment systems and help create an open, trustworthy and privacy-friendly internet for all!

We are looking for project proposals between €5,000 and €50,000. The call is open to businesses, academics, the public sector, non-profit organisations, communities and stakeholders. You can contribute exciting new features to GNU Taler itself, build utilities, work on user experience, develop integrations to FOSS applications and open standards (for example, enable P2P micropayments in an instant messenger, an open social media platform or a video conferencing tool) or develop improvements to infrastructure components (such as merchant backends)!

Visit the NGI – The Next Generation Internet website for more information on this and other funding calls here.

Visit the NLnet Foundation website to read our detailed open call, applicant guide, eligibility requirements and FAQs, and to submit your form, here.

Register now on the TALER Community Interface Hub (TALER ICH) to discuss with us here.


We spoke at an event hosted by KEPSIPI in the context of the Erasmus+ Digital Learning and Social Intervention programme

On Thursday 23rd of May we had the pleasure to participate in the event organized by KEPSIPI in the framework of the Erasmus+ Digital Learning and Social Intervention project and to talk about digital learning and the importance of personal data for social workers from Greece, Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Romania and the challenges of using AI tools in the field of social intervention. We would like to thank Ms. Margarita Moraitou for the invitation and her efforts to highlight this issue both nationally and European-wide.

Our Director for AI and New Technologies, Lamprini Gyftokosta, spoke representing Homo Digitalis at the event.

You can learn more about the work and activities of the Centre for Mental and Pedagogical Health here.


Homo Digitalis' participation in the Digital World Summit Greece was a great success

Homo Digitalis had the great honor and pleasure to be present with double representation at the Digital World Summit Greece, today Tuesday, May 28th at the National Hellenic Research Foundation!

Specifically, our Vice President and Partner at Digital Law Experts (DLE), Stefanos Vitoratos, participated as a moderator in the 1st panel of the conference, on the topic “#AI: The intersection between regulation and innovation”, in a fascinating discussion with speakers such as Dimitris Gerogiannis (President AI Catalyst), Lilian Mitrou (Professor, Department of Information & Communication Systems Engineering, University of the Aegean), Charalambos Tsekeris (President of the National Bioethics & Technology Ethics Committee), Yannis Mastrogeorgiou (Special Secretary for Long Term Planning, Presidency of the Greek Government) and Fotis Draganidis (Director of Technology at Microsoft Hellas).

Our Director for Human Rights & Artificial Intelligence, Lamprini Gyftokosta, was a speaker at the 2nd panel of the Digital World Summit Greece 2024, on “Cybersecurity, Citizen Security and Artificial Intelligence”! The panel was moderated by Konstantinos Anagnostopoulos (Co-founder & Director, Athens Legal Tech), while Natalia Soulia (Senior Associate | Privacy, Data Protection & Cybersecurity, KG Law FIrm) was also present as a speaker, Thomas Dobridis (Head of the General Directorate of Cybersecurity, Ministry of Digital Governance), Antonis Broumas (Head of Law and Technology, EY Platis-Anastasiades) and Stella Tsitsoula (Founder, RED. comm, Co-Founder | Women4Cyber GR | Founder Hellenic Cybersecurity Institute)!

We would like to thank the organizers for their kind invitation, as every year, to this important conference.

 

 


We successfully presented our actions at InfoRights 2024 in Corfu

Homo Digitalis has the great pleasure to participate in the Third Interdisciplinary Conference Info Rights , organized by the Reading Society of Corfu on 17 & 18 May 2024 entitled “Human Rights in the Information Age: Benchmarks of History, Law, Ethics and Culture”.

Specifically, on Saturday 18 May, our member Christos Zanganas represented Homo Digitalis presenting our important actions in the field of Digital Rights in our three pillars of interest, Awareness, Advocacy and Strategic Legal Actions!

We would like to thank the organizers for the kind invitation!


Homo Digitalis with double representation at Digital World Summit Greece

Homo Digitalis has the great honor and pleasure to participate with double representation at the Digital World Summit Greece, on Tuesday 28 May at the National Hellenic Research Foundation!

Specifically, our Vice President and Partner at Digital Law Experts (DLE), Stefanos Vitoratos, will participate as a moderator in the 1st panel of the conference, on the topic “AI: The intersection between regulation and innovation”, in a fascinating panel discussion featuring Dimitris Gerogiannis (President AI Catalyst), Lillian Mitrou (Professor, Department of Information & Communication Systems Engineering, University of the Aegean), Charalambos Tsekeris (President of the National Bioethics & Technology Ethics Committee), Yannis Mastrogeorgiou (Special Secretary of Long Term Planning, Presidency of the Greek Government) and Fotis Draganidis (Director of Technology at Microsoft Hellas).

Our Director for Human Rights & Artificial Intelligence, Lambrini Gyftokosta, will participate as a speaker in the 2nd panel of the Digital World Summit Greece 2024, on the topic “Cybersecurity, Citizen Security and Artificial Intelligence”! This very interesting panel will be moderated by Konstantinos Anagnostopoulos (Co-founder & Director, Athens Legal Tech), while Natalia Soulia (Senior Associate | Privacy, Data Protection & Cybersecurity, KG Law FIrm), Thomas Dombridis (Head of the General Directorate of Cybersecurity of the Ministry of Digital Governance), Antonis Broumas (Head of the Law Department of the Ministry of Digital Governance), Antonis Broumas (Head of the Law Department of the Ministry of Digital Governance), and the Head of the Law Department of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Greece) will also be present as speakers.

You can register and read more about the conference and its programme here.


We participate in InfoRights 2024 in Corfu

Homo Digitalis has the great pleasure to participate in the Third Interdisciplinary Conference, organized by the Corfu Reading Society on 17 & 18 May 2024 entitled “Human Rights in the Information Age: Benchmarks of History, Law, Ethics and Culture”.

Our member Christos Zanganas will represent Homo Digitalis at the Conference, and on Saturday 18 at 12:00 he will present Homo Digitalis’ work for the protection of human rights in relation to the information society in Greece!

We would like to thank the organizers for the very honorable invitation!

You can register for free to attend the conference in person or read more about it here.

The focus of the interdisciplinary themes of the conference is human rights in relation to information in terms of history, regulation (law and ethics) and culture. It is co-organised by the Cultural and Historical Heritage Documentation Laboratory of TABM, the IHRC Research Group of TABM, and the Ionian University Library and Information Centre with the collaboration of the UNESCO Chair on Threats to Cultural Heritage and Heritage-related Activities of the Ionian University, as well as the Corfu Bar Association and the Ionian University Museum Collections.


We bring the "Misinformation" and "What The Future Wants" editions of the international exhibition "The Glass Room" to ADAF 2024!

The “Misinformation” and “What The Future Wants” editions of Tactical Tech’s international exhibition “The Glass Room” will be at the Athens Digital Arts Festival 2024 (ADAF2024)!!

In collaboration with Tactical Tech, the exhibition is brought to Greece by Homo Digitalis, Digital Detox Experience and Open Lab Athens, with the Homo Digitalis team and specifically our members Sophia Antonopoulou, Ariana Rapti and Alkmini Gianni, organising the two exhibitions for ADAF 2024!

ADAF 2024 will take place from 16 to 26 May at the Former Santarosa Courts (48 Stadiou & Arsaki). “The Glass Room: Misinformation Edition” will be available to the audience throughout the festival, while “The Glass Room: What the Future Wants Edition” will be presented in the form of a workshop on Saturday 18/5 at 14.00 by our members Sophia Antonopoulou, Ariana Rapti and Alkmini Gianni.

You can buy tickets for ADAF 2024 and read the full festival programme here.

Many thanks to our three members for their time, energy and dedication in organizing these exhibitions, as well as to ADAF for hosting us!

The Glass Room exhibition has travelled to 61 countries around the world, counting 471 award-winning events and more than 350,000 visitors worldwide. In the past, Homo Digitalis, Digital Detox Experience and Open Lab Athens have presented the exhibitions at the National Library of Greece in Athens and at JOIST Innovation Park in Larissa.