Our presentation at the AI Summit was a great success

Clicks from Homo Digitalis’ presence at CLEON Conferences & Communications’ AI Summit, held under our auspices, yesterday 21/2/2024.

Stefanos Vitoratos spoke about the AI Act’s regulation and GPAI models.

 


Our joint research on children's safety and privacy online just published

YouGov, Humankind Research and Homo Digitalis conducted a survey on online safety and privacy for children in Greece, which shows high levels of concern among adults and young people.

-What percentage of Greeks are concerned about children’s online privacy?

-Do they believe that children have little control over how their data is collected and used?

-Who do Greeks believe is primarily responsible for protecting children online?

The survey also highlights the critical need to invest in raising awareness among Greek citizens, both adults and non-adults, on issues of privacy, protection and safety online.

You can find the survey and learn more about its results:

In Greek and in English.


We submitted a joint letter with noyb.eu to the European Data Protection Board for its opinion in the Meta case

The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) will soon issue its most important opinion to date: it will determine whether we still have a realistic option to protect our right to privacy online!

In November 2023, Meta adopted the “Pay or Okay” approach. Since then, users are forced to either pay a “privacy fee” of €251.88 per year or agree to be monitored. The supervisory authorities of the Netherlands, Norway and Hamburg have therefore requested a binding opinion from the EDPB on this issue.

If “Pay or Okay” is legalised, companies in all industry sectors could follow Meta’s lead – which could mean the end of real consent in the use of our data.

Homo Digitalis has now joined forces with 27 other civil society organisations including noyb.eu, Wikimedia Europe, Bits of Freedom and Forbrukerrådet/Norwegian Consumer Council to urge the EDPB to issue an opinion that protects our fundamental right to data protection!

You can read our joint letter here.

 


Educational Action of Homo Digitalis at the Music School of Larissa

In the context of Homo Digitalis’ actions for the awareness and information of students, our member Anastasios Arampatzis visited on February 9th the Music School of Larissa!

There, with more than 370 high school students, we discussed about digital bullying and ways of dealing with this phenomenon, as well as about our digital footprint and the rights provided by the legislation for the protection of personal data.

The discussion covered broader topics such as AI, the use of cameras, the ethics of using technology and more. The students have excellent knowledge on many topics but also have key questions and concerns to which they are seeking answers!

We would like to thank the Headmistress of the School, the Teachers’ Association and the EPAS Schools – Ambassadors of the European Parliament team for the invitation and hospitality!

 


5+ years of GDPR: Homo Digitalis comments on the European Commission's report

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was adopted in 2016 and became applicable on 25 May 2018.

It is the European Union’s key piece of legislation to protect the right to personal data protection. It is regarded as the most successful piece of legislation on this topic internationally, with many states using the GDPR as a basis for creating their own data protection legislation. The European Commission invited all stakeholders (public bodies, private companies, government agencies, civil society organisations, citizens, etc.) to provide feedback on the implementation of the GDPR over the years.

The comments will be used by the European Commission to prepare a report with the aim of evaluating the implementation of the GDPR and its possible improvement. This report is expected to be published in mid-2024. Homo Digitalis was actively involved in providing comments. You can read a compilation of Homo Digitalis’ comments here.

Many thanks to our members Christos Zanganas, Avgi Saoulidou, Danae Skevi and Konstantinos Kakavoulis for their participation in this process!

 


We participated in an event organised by the European AI & Society Fund and Civitates in Brussels

Homo Digitalis was delighted to participate in a joint event organised by the European AI & Society Fund and Civitates last week in Brussels.

Funders and grantee organisations had the opportunity to discuss in person the developments of the civil society ecosystem working on technology and society. We talked about current and upcoming policy changes and how we can better mobilise our network to address the challenges and shape a better future!

We were represented at the event by our Director for Human Rights & AI, Lamprini Gyftokosta!

 


Homo Digitalis speaks about the Safer Internet Day 2024 at Pyrgettos Gymnasium and Lyceum

Part A’

Today is Safer Internet Day and Homo Digitalis was once again in many different schools in Greece, completely voluntarily, to talk to students and teachers about our digital rights with the presentations “digital footprint” and “cyberbullying”.

Homo Digitalis and our member Anastasios Arabatzis visited Pyrgettos High School and Lyceum and we were surprised by the active participation and interest of the public in our activities.

 


Homo Digitalis talks about Safer Internet Day 2024 at the Hellenic American Educational Foundation Athens College - Psychico College Primary School.

Part B’

Today is Safer Internet Day and Homo Digitalis was once again in many different schools in Greece, completely voluntarily, to talk to students and teachers about our digital rights with the presentations “digital footprint” and “cyberbullying”.

Homo Digitalis and our members Kostas Kakavoulis, Lamprini Gyftokosta, Nikoleta Georgakopoulou and Ariana Rapti visited the elementary school of the Hellenic American Educational Foundation Athens College – Psychico College.

 


Our participation in the Privacy Camp in Brussels for another year

Last week we attended the Privacy Camp in Brussels, one of the most important annual meetings in the field of digital rights internationally, organized by European Digital Rights in collaboration with the Research Group on Law, Science, Technology & Society (LSTS) at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Privacy Salon, Institute for European Studies, ULB (IEE-ULB), Institute for Information Law (IViR) at UvA and the Racism and Technology Center!

There we had the pleasure to meet with EDRi network organisations and other civil society representatives, European institutions, academic institutions and other partners!

Homo Digitalis was represented at the meeting by our President, Elpida Vamvaka, and there we met with many of our members who participated in the meeting, including Alexandra Giannopoulou and Emilia Givropoulou.