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.
We call on the Greek DPA to investigate the Ministry of Interior for the use of artificial intelligence algorithms for the reallocation of employees in the public sector
On 9 July Homo Digitalis filed a request (no. 5812/9.7.2024) before the Greek Data Protection Authority, in order for the latter to exercise its investigative powers against the Ministry of Interior.
In particular, following the Authority’s Decision 16/2024 in April 2024, by which it had imposed a record fine of 400,000 euros on the Ministry of Interior for significant breaches of data protection legislation, the Ministry is again in the spotlight, this time for the artificial intelligence tool it is developing for strategic staffing planning in the public sector.
The tool concerns the reallocation of existing staff and the estimation of the needs for new staff, while it will be piloted in 9 public sector institutions, namely the Development Programmes Organisation and Management Unit, the Independent Public Expenditure Authority, the Public Employment Service, the Athens General Hospital “G. Gennimatas Hospital, the Municipality of Thessaloniki, the Region of Attica, the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, the Ministry of Environment and Energy and the Ministry of Culture and Sports.
The project is expected to be completed in December 2025, at a cost of €11,708,543.
Because the tool needs to include functionalities for the collection, management and analysis of personal data, Homo Digitalis had filed a letter on 15 April 2024 before the then Minister of Interior Ms.Kerameos and the Data Protection Officer of the Ministry, in which it raised key questions regarding both the compliance required with the legislation on the protection of personal data and the legislation on the use of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies in the public sector (Law 4961/2022). However, the Ministry did not provide any response, even after a written reminder of our request on 30 May, forcing us to address the DPA to investigate thoroughly the development, implementation and piloting of this tool and the implications for the rights of public sector employees.
You can see our request here (EL).
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.
Centaur & Hyperion: We asked the Greek DPA whether the Ministry of Immigration & Asylum has made the necessary compliance steps
In the framework of the Decision 13/2024 of the Greek Data Protection Authority (DPA), which was posted on its website on 2/4/2024, the Ministry of Immigration and Asylum was instructed to take all necessary steps to complete its compliance with the obligations of the controller, as described in the body of the Decision, within 3 (three) months from the date of its receipt.
Given that on Tuesday 2/7/2024, 3 months were completed, we decided to send a letter to the DPA on Wednesday 3/7/2024 (ref. no. G/EIS/5662/03-07-2024) requesting to be informed whether the Authority has received any relevant information from the Ministry of Immigration and Asylum regarding the completion of its compliance, as it was obliged to do.
It remains to be seen what level of compliance has been achieved in these three months in a case that is of the utmost importance.
We give a lecture on AI ACT at company bora
Tomorrow, June 20, Homo Digitalis will give a talk-seminar on AI Act before the workforce and partners of the company bora.
Specifically, Homo Digitalis’ AI & Human Rights Manager, Lamprini Gyftokosta, in a 1-hour web presentation in English, will take a deep dive into the important provisions of the new legislation and discuss relevant compliance challenges with the audience!
Many thanks to bora for the kind invitation to host this seminar, and especially to Anastasios Arampatzis, Joe Pettit & David Turner!
You can learn more about bora here.
If you would also like to invite Homo Digitalis to provide a relevant seminar to your employees, you can express your interest at info@homodigitalis.gr
Homo Digitalis speaks at the 2nd Colour of Surveillance Conference
Homo Digitalis has the great honour and pleasure to speak at the 2nd European Colour of Surveillance Conference “Liberation Practices in times of Fascism”, which this time is being held on 26 & 27 June in Berlin by the organisations Equinox Initiative for Racial Justice, International Women* Space and Weaving Liberation!
Specifically, Homo Digitalis’ Director of Human Rights & AI, Lamprini Gyftokosta, will give a speech in the framework of the Workshop “Blue: the colour of surveillance In Greece: lessons from challenging Migration Tech” during the second day of the conference!
We would like to thank the organizers for the kind invitation and hospitality!
You can learn more about the conference programme here.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
Homo Digitalis is a member of the Europeana Network Association (ENA)
Homo Digitalis is now a member of the Europeana Network Association (ENA)! ENA is under the auspices of the Digital Library Europeana, which offers access to millions of books, maps, audio recordings, photographs, archival documents, paintings and films, as well as other materials from national libraries and cultural institutions in the 27 Member States of the European Union. ENA is a strong and democratic community of people working, studying or interested in digital cultural heritage and the use of new technologies in education and the arts.
Homo Digitalis is involved in three different working groups: The EuropeanaTech Community, the Europeana Education Community και the Europeana Copyright!
Despite the fact that we have already been in contact since 2018 and have participated in events and presentations of Europeana’s work, it is a great honour and pleasure for Homo Digitalis to be now an official member of ENA!
In these working groups we will be represented by our Co-Founder, Eleftherios Chelioudakis.
We spoke to the newspaper Kathimerini and journalist Yannis Papadopoulos about the leak of personal data to Christie's Auction House
On 30 May, international auction house Christie’s sent an email to its customers to inform them that their personal data had been hacked, and on 3 June a lawsuit was filed in New York for damages against the international auction house.
The journalist of Kathimerini newspaper, Yiannis Papadopoulos, wrote a detailed article on this case, and Homo Digitalis provided relevant comments, with Eleftherios Chelioudakis representing us.
We thank the journalist for his interest in our views.
You can read the article 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.