Voluntary educational actions in schools: Homo Digitalis visits the 63rd Primary School and the 28th High School of Thessaloniki
Last week Homo Digitalis literally hit the road again! Following the very successful 1500 km tour in Peloponnese and Central Greece, it was the turn of Northern Greece with 5 different schools!
After the visits to the 3rd Serres High School, the Ierissos High School and the Arnaia High School in Halkidiki, it was time for the capital of Macedonia, the beautiful Thessaloniki!
Homo Digitalis spoke at the 63rd Primary School of Thessaloniki about cyber bullying to teachers and children of the 5th and 6th grade! Many thanks to our members Melina Skondra & Athanasia Tychala for their representation, their unquenchable desire to pass on their knowledge to children and the school’s director Ms. Adamidou for the invitation!!!
But one school is not enough! So, our President Elpida Vamvaka and Charalampos Daftsios represented Homo Digitalis at the 28th General High School of Thessaloniki talking to teachers and students of the 1st grade about the digital footprint. Thanks to the school’s Director, Mrs. Halvatzi for the invitation!
Voluntary educational actions in schools: Homo Digitalis visits Arnaia High School in Halkidiki
Last week Homo Digitalis hit the road again!
After the very successful 1500 km tour in the Peloponnese and Central Greece, the 4 schools and the more than 600 students and teachers we met there, this time it was the turn of Northern Greece with 5 different schools and a new record of kilometers and students!
After Serres, it was the turn of Chalkidiki!
The second school (see the first one here) we visited there was the High School of Arnaia! Our Director for Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, Lamprini Gyftokosta, spoke with the students of the first grade about the digital footprint and was lucky enough to be in front of an incredible audience, who asked pertinent questions, exercised their critical thinking and responded positively to our call for more control of our personal data!
We would like to thank the Director Mr. Tsiliverdi Dimitrios and the IT Teacher Ms. Eleni Letta for the invitation!
Homo Digitalis’ actions in the field of student awareness are carried out with the organization’s own resources and with the contribution of our network of volunteers! Your support is very important to achieve more in the new year!
Homo Digitalis interview to France 24 on the MEP Asimakopoulou emails case
Our co-founder, Eleftherios Chelioudakis, represented Homo Digitalis in an interview with France 24 (the French News Agency) about the illegal transfer of personal data of a large number of Greeks living abroad in the hands of the MEP Anna Michelle Asimakopoulou and the relevant political communication she made to them via email in the context of the upcoming European elections.
We are very grateful to France 24 for its interest in our actions. You can read the interview here.
Voluntary educational actions in schools: Homo Digitalis visits the High School of Ierissos
Last week Homo Digitalis literally hit the road again!
After the very successful 1500 km tour in the Peloponnese and Central Greece, the 4 schools and the more than 600 students and teachers we met there, this time it was the turn of Northern Greece with 5 different schools and a new record of kilometers and students!
After Serres, it was the turn of Chalkidiki!
Homo Digitalis talked about the digital footprint to all the students of the Ierissos High School and Ierissos Gymnasium. The active participation of the children and teachers in these interactive presentations fills us with joy and hope, but also with ideas for a wider public awareness on these issues.
We thank Charalambos Daftsios and Lambrini Yftokosta for representing us to over 350 children and especially to our excellent host and Director of the High School, Mrs. Mavroudi for inviting us to host the event.
Homo Digitalis’ actions in the field of student awareness are carried out with the organization’s own resources and with the contribution of our network of volunteers! Your support is very important to achieve more in the new year!
Voluntary educational actions in schools: Homo Digitalis visits the 3rd High School of Serres
Last week Homo Digitalis hit the road again!
After the very successful 1500 km tour in the Peloponnese and Central Greece, the 4 schools and the more than 600 students and teachers we met there, this time it was the turn of Northern Greece with 5 different schools and a new record of kilometers and students!
We started from Serres, in a historic place, a neoclassical building built in 1885 to house the city’s hospital and then converted into the first Gymnasium of Thileon Serres, and now operating as the 3rd Gymnasium of the city! We were there on April 1 to talk to students and teachers about the digital footprint.
We would like to thank the Director Mrs. Arapaki Chrysanthi and the IT teacher Mr. Moscholios Stavros for the invitation!
Homo Digitalis’ actions in the field of student awareness are carried out with the organization’s own resources and with the contribution of our network of volunteers! Your support is very important to achieve more in the new year!
The Hellenic Data Protection Authority fines the Ministry of Migration and Asylum for the "Centaurus" and "Hyperion" systems with the largest penalty ever imposed to a Greek public body
Two years ago, in February 2022, Homo Digitalis had filed a complaint against the Ministry of Immigration and Asylum for the “Centaurus” and “Hyperion” systems deployed in the reception and accommodation facilities for asylum seekers, in cooperation with the civil society organizations Hellenic League for Human Rights and HIAS Greece, as well as the academic Niovi Vavoula.
Today, the Hellenic Data Protection Authority identified significant GDPR violations in this case by the Ministry of Immigration and Asylum and decided to impose a fine of €175.000 euro – the highest ever imposed against a public body in the country.
The detailed analysis of the GDPR highlights the significant shortcomings that the Ministry of Immigration and Asylum had fallen into in the context of preparing a comprehensive and coherent Data Protection Impact Assessment, and demonstrates the significant violations of the GDPR that have been identified and relate to a large number of subjects who have a real hardship in being able to exercise their rights.
Despite the fact that the DPA remains understaffed, with a reduced budget, facing even the the risk of eviction from its premises, it manages to fulfil its mission and maintain citizens’ trust in the Independent Authorities. It remains to be seen how long the DPA will last if the state does not stand by its side.
Of course, nothing ends here. A high fine does not in itself mean anything. The Ministry of Immigration and Asylum must comply within 3 months with its obligations. However, the decision gives us the strength to continue our actions in the field of border protection in order to protect the rights of vulnerable social groups who are targeted by highly intrusive technologies.
You can read our press release here.
You can read Decision 13/2024 on the Authority’s website here.
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.
Homo Digitalis interview with Inside Story about the MEP Asimakopoulou emails' case
The member of Homo Digitalis, Christos Zanganas, represented Homo Digitalis in an interview with Inside.story and journalist Eleftheria Tsaliki on the illegal transfer of personal data of a large number of Greeks living abroad in the hands of the MEP Anna Michelle Asimakopoulou and the relevant political communication she made to them via email in the context of the upcoming European elections.
We are very grateful to the journalist for her interest in our actions. You can read the interview here.
Homo Digitalis interview with The Press Project about the MEP Asimakopoulou emails' case
The member of Homo Digitalis, Nikoleta Georgakopoulou, spoke to The Press Project and journalists Thanos Kamilalis and Konstantinos Poulis about the scandal with the illegal transfer of personal data of a large number of Greeks living abroad in the hands of the New Democracy MEP Anna Michelle Asimakopoulou and the relevant political communication she made to them via email in the context of the upcoming European elections.
We are very grateful to the journalists of The Press Project for their interest in our actions.
You can listen to the excerpt of the interview at 16:15 of the related video on The Press Project’s YouTube channel here.