Homo Digitalis
Challenging the use of AI-surveillance for citizen and border control in Greece
Greece, as an external EU border country, has long been used as a testing ground for intrusive technologies. Backed by EU funding, Greece is increasingly using AI-automated surveillance to monitor its citizens, control asylum seekers, and turn away migrants at its borders.
Homo Digitalis, Greece’s first digital rights organisation, has been investigating and shaping the use of AI at a national and European level. It coordinates the Greek AI Network and has published papers on the enforcement of the AI Act in Greece. Homo Digitalis also litigates against the development and deployment of intrusive AI systems.
With support from the European AI & Society Fund, Homo Digitalis has become a strong human rights watchdog in the field of AI development and deployment, especially on matters related to technology-led policing and border management activities. As the AI Act is implemented in Greece and across Europe, Homo Digitalis is advocating for it to deliver genuine accountability and protection of fundamental rights.
The challenge
Greece, as an external EU border country, has long been used as a testing ground for intrusive technologies. Today, AI systems in policing and border management raise acute risks of surveillance, discrimination, and rights violations.
Supported by EU funding, Greece increasingly uses AI to control its borders and prevent migrants from crossing into the European Union. On the border between Turkey and Greece, people on the move are detected using drones and AI-automated surveillance. People fleeing natural disasters, famine, totalitarian governments and war are being turned away, denying them the right to claim asylum.
The action
Homo Digitalis is Greece’s first digital rights organisation, run by human rights lawyers that investigate and shape the use of AI at a national and European level.
In 2022, Homo Digitalis lodged two complaints about GDPR abuse with the Greek Data Protection Authority. In the first, Clearview AI was fined €20 million for using AI-powered facial recognition software, breaching GDPR – the highest ever fine to be imposed on a private entity in Greece. The second led to the Hellenic Ministry of Asylum and Migration being fined €175.000 for using the Hyperion and Centaur AI-systems. These were deployed on a camp for asylum seekers using biometric monitoring, AI-powered motion analysis cameras and drones, abusing asylum seekers’ data privacy rights.
Since then, Homo Digitalis has joined UNESCO’s Global AI Ethics & Governance Observatory and has become a strong human rights watchdog in the field of AI development and deployment, especially on matters related to technology-led policing and border management activities.
In 2024, they set up the first ever Greek Artificial Intelligence Network – GAIN – to mobilise a wider community of social and digital justice organisations to ensure social justice is central to the implementation of the European AI Act. They are also part of the #ProtectnotSurveil coalition of civil society organisations that mobilise to challenge harmful technology use against people on the move.
How the European AI & Society Fund helped
The European AI & Society Fund can support emergent organisations that might not fit the grantmaking criteria of other funders. With small, repeat grants we were able to support Homo Digitalis to build their capacity from a volunteer-run collective to a digital rights watchdog. This made them a more resilient and credible organisation which allowed them to access other funding sources. With an AI Act Implementation grant from the European AI & Society Fund they can now mobilise a wider community of tech and social justice groups across Greece to push for robust adoption of the AI Act in Greece.
Homo Digitalis has also joined forces with other European AI & Society Fund grantees investigating AI & border control including Border Violence Monitoring Network, The Migrant Justice Community of Practice coalition, EuroMed Rights, and The Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM).