We invite you to the celebration of 5 Years of Homo Digitalis & 20 Years of EDRi
We invite you to celebrate our birthday together!
Come and experience what Homo Digitalis has achieved in 5 years – and European Digital Rights (EDRi) in 20 years – of action for the protection of Human Rights in the modern digital age.
The event is free of charge and will be followed by networking drinks
Registration required by 1/12 here.
We will celebrate together with key speakers who will honour us :
-Dr. Wojciech Wiewiorowski, EDPS – European Data Protection Supervisor
-Dr. George Rousopoulos, Computer Engineer, Specialist Scientist, DPO
-Alexandra Toth, Programme Manager, European AI & Society Fund & Society Fund,
-Dr. Alexandra Giannopoulou, digiRISE Project Manager of the Digital Freedom Fund and Researcher at the University of Amsterdam
-Eliza Triantafyllou, Journalist, inside story.,
-Diego Naranjo, Head of Policy, European Digital Rights (EDRi)
-Max Schrems, Honorary President noyb.eu
-Ioannis Kouvakas, Senior Legal Counsel & Assistant General Counsel, Privacy International
*The exact programme of the event will be published in the coming days.
We participated in the DFF's Berlin event on the use of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights in our legal actions
Last week we participated in the workshop organised by DFF in Berlin focusing on the importance of using the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights in our legal actions!
DFF launched the digiRISE project to raise awareness of the potential of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights in defending and protecting digital rights.
The workshop was attended by Privacy International, Access Now, Share Foundation and many other civil society organisations.
Homo Digitalis was represented by Elpida Vamvaka, President of the Board of Homo Digitalis.
Many congratulations to the DFF team for the organization!
The Greek DPA discussed in a Plenary Session our Case on Electronic Communications Metadata Retention
Yesterday, Tuesday 14/11, we were present at the Plenary Session of the Greek DPA during which our case concerning the retention of electronic communications metadata and the right of access to them was discussed. Our Secretary, Eleftherios Chelioudakis, who is the Data Subject in this case, participated there.
In simple terms, metadata allows us to establish who spoke to whom, via which devices, when, for how long, and where the users were approximately located during their conversation. Therefore, metadata is not about the content of the communication but about all the other accompanying elements of the communication. All electronic communications providers in Greece are required to keep it for one year from the date of the communication.
The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in 2014 that the retention of this amount of metadata for everyone, everywhere and always, constitutes a mass surveillance measure that allows for particularly accurate conclusions to be drawn with regard to the privacy of the persons whose data has been retained, and violates the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, ruling Directive 2006/24, which allowed for this, as invalid.
However, the Greek State has not revised until today, almost 10 years later, the Law 3917/2011 that transposes this Directive into the Greek legal landscape, while as Homo Digitalis revealed in 2019 the relevant legislative committee that was asked to prepare a new draft law, an explanatory memorandum and an impact assessment on this matter ever delivered any work in the 5 years of its existence (2014-2019).
We look forward with great interest to the next stages of the process and have full confidence in the work of the Greek DPA.
Homo Digitalis participates in a New York University meeting on Artificial Intelligence
Last week, Homo Digitalis was invited to participate in the strategic meeting “Co-creating a shared human-rights agenda for AI regulation and the digital welfare state”, organized by the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University Law School and Amnesty Tech’s Algorithmic Accountability Lab!
It is always a great honor to see our work to promote and protect human rights recognized internationally, and we thoroughly enjoyed sharing ideas, expertise and knowledge with an amazing group of academics, civil society organizations and other stakeholders around the world.
⚡ Our group was represented at the Strategy Session by Board Secretary Eleftherios Chelioudakis. Stay tuned for more exciting partnerships!
Homo Digitalis in Brussels to speak at two important events
Homo Digitalis made a lightning trip to Brussels this week!
There we attended the annual plenary meeting of the Justice, Equity & Technology (JET) Table at The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), which we have been members of for more than 2.5 years now, studying the implications of using technologies to defend specific social groups based on class and race.
We also successfully participated for another year in FreedomNotFear, where we had the great pleasure to organise a talk regarding the use of intrusive technologies in the field of border protection and our related legal actions for 2019-2023.
For Homo Digitalis, our Board Secretary, Eleftherios Chelioudakis, travelled from Greece to Brussels
FRONTEX responds to Homo Digitalis' Request for Access to Information on EUROSUR and the deadly shipwreck in Pylos
In June 2023, Homo Digitalis had filed a request for access to documents before FRONTEX in order to explore whether the EUROSUR system, which is composed of drones and satellites, among other technologies, was in operation during the fatal ship’s voyage from 9 to 13 June in the Mediterranean Sea and the reasons why it did not prevent this fatal shipwreck.
Today, FRONTEX replies that the EUROSUR system, despite being fully operational, has not been able to do what it promises, namely to detect large vessels that may be used by criminal organisations to transport people in the Mediterranean, putting the lives of the latter at high risk. This is a major revelation by Homo Digitalis, demonstrating that the very expensive – tens of millions of euros – solutions promised by technology companies to complex issues such as border management and the protection of people who put their lives at risk have failed. EUROSUR failed to locate the large floating vessel, despite the fact that it had been right in its field of control for more than 3 full 24 hours.
You can see the text of the reply we received here.
Homo Digitalis co-organizes with the Digital Freedom Fund the Strategic Litigation Meeting for the first time in Greece!
The Digital Freedom Fund’s Strategic Litigation Meeting is back!
In collaboration with Homo Digitalis and with funding from Luminate, the retreat will take place in Athens from September 11-14. If you are planning to take legal action against major tech companies or other class actions, register now here.
The retreat hosts training sessions and workshops aimed at developing participants’ legal skills and tactics in a relaxed and collaborative environment with other colleagues. DFF also hopes to be able to sponsor some of the cases that participants develop during the meeting.
After two online versions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, DFF is pleased to bring the event back to its true essence as an in-person retreat where participants can disconnect from other activities and commitments to work in depth on the study and strategic planning of their cases.
In the latest post on the DFF blog, legal counsel César Manso-Sayao shares more details about the retreat, as well as some thoughts regarding recent developments on the liability of large platforms. Read it here.
Artwork by Kruthika N.S.