Celebrating 6 Years of Homo Digitalis

As you may already know, I am an advocate of respecting people’s privacy and a member of Homo Digitalis, the one and only data privacyData privacy is the process of safeguarding an individual’s personal information, ensuring it remains confidential, secure, and protected from unauthorized access or misuse. group in Greece. I am really excited that all Bora staff share the same principles, turning Bora into a privacy-friendly cybersecurity marketing agencyWhat is a Cybersecurity Marketing Agency? A cybersecurity marketing agency specializes in creating and executing marketing strategies for cybersecurity products and services. These agencies deeply understand the cybersecurity landscape, including....

Throughout the past years, we have supported Homo Digitalis in numerous ways, and we couldn’t be happier to celebrate the successes of our friends at Homo Digitalis, who have turned six! I asked the founding members of Homo Digitalis to sit down with me and discuss their journey. Here’s what you need to know!

When was Homo Digitalis established?

HD: Homo Digitalis was established in 2018 by 6 founding members, 25 volunteers, and 1,000 euros in the organization’s account. Nobody knew us back then, but it didn’t matter because we knew exactly what we wanted to achieve and where we wanted to go.

How did you come up with this idea?

HD: The idea for Homo Digitalis was not born overnight. It was created one day at a time through our personal and professional journey. We understood early on that at the European level, legislators and politicians focused on the risks and challenges that arose in the information society. At the same time, we were mesmerized by the impressive actions and wins of leading Civil Society Organizations and activists in the field of digital rights, such as European Digital Rights (EDRi), Bits of Freedom, epicenter.works, Access Now, and Privacy International.

What is the Homo Digitalis mission?

HD: Our mission since the very beginning was focused on three pillars:

To raise awareness and inform the general population about digital rights matters,
To participate in advocacy actions to promote the protection of human rights and freedoms in legislative agendas and policy files at EU and in Greece and
To fight back against the use of intrusive technologies through legal tools, such as complaints and interventions, before supervisory authorities and courts.

What are some of the landmark achievements over these six years?

HD: Some of the highlights of our actions in these three pillars include:

Raising Awareness

In the field of awareness raising, we managed to create two educational presentations, licensed by the Greek Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports, namely “Cyberbullying” and “Digital Footprint.” In just 3 years, we managed to visit more than 30 Schools in different parts of the country, including Attika, Larisa, Crete, Peloponnese, and Macedonia, on a complete pro bono basis, covering all related expenses on our own funds. Together with our team of volunteers, we informed students and teachers about digital rights issues and educated them on basic concepts of cybersecurity. Also, we co-created with the ISC2 Hellenic Chapter the animated episode series “Super Cyber Kids,” where a group of young children and their parents speak about different digital rights matters, including social networks, cyberbullying, and misinformation.

Advocacy

When it comes to advocacy, we managed to participate in or co-organize pan-European campaigns that shaped EU legislative debates on digital rights matters. One of our greatest successes was our participation in the European campaigns #SaveYourInternet, #ProtectNotSurveil, and #StopScanningMe on topics such as intellectual property, biometrics, privacy, data protectionWhat is Data Protection? Data protection refers to the practice of safeguarding sensitive information from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. It involves implementing policies, procedures, and technologies to ensure..., surveillance, and encryptionWhat is Encryption? Encryption converts readable data (plaintext) into a scrambled and unreadable format (ciphertext) using an algorithm and a key. The primary purpose of encryption is to ensure the..., as well as the co-creation of the European Citizens Initiative #ReclaimYourFace, which was dedicated to completely ban the use of biometric mass surveillance technologies in public spaces across EU. At the national level, we have succeeded, among other things, in opening up the public debate on integrating EU legislation in the fields of personal data and intellectual property.

Legal actions and interventions

Regarding legal actions and interventions, over the first 5 years, we submitted 13 legal complaints before national and EU supervisory authorities in Greece, Ireland, France, and Belgium, together with a unique network of allies in order to fight back against intrusive practices that led to violations of human rights in the digital age. Some of our biggest successes include the €20 million fine to Clearview AIWhat is AI? Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence processes by computers in an aim to mimic or exceed human cognitive abilities across a range of domains.... by the Hellenic Data Protection Authority, the highest ever imposed in Greece for GDPRWhat is GDPR? The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is widely regarded as the world's strictest security and privacy law, promulgated by the European Union (EU) to regulate any organization... matters, as well as the reform of the Hellenic Data Protection Act (Law 4624/2019) to comply with the provision of the Law Enforcement Directive (Directive 2016/680). We are witnessing important victories today, too, since just a few days ago, we won together with our allies another case, this time against the Hellenic Ministry of Asylum and Migration and the intrusive surveillance systems KENTAUROS and HYPERION.

What is the secret of your success?

HD: On the journey we set out on, we were not alone. One of our greatest successes is the impactful and long-standing collaboration with an extensive network of universities, research institutions, and think tanks, as well as our unique network of volunteers, who have meaningfully assisted Homo Digitalis in taking our actions one step further. Looking ahead we are optimistic, moving forward dynamically, conquering small and big goals that will bring us even closer to the world we want to build together!

You can read more about Homo Digitalis’ work for the period 2018-2023 in their report here. If you want to help Homo Digitalis to continue their mission and protect Human Rights in the digital age, you can place your donation here.