Today, 17.12.2020, Homo Digitalis took strategic action and filed a request before the President of the Greek Data Protection Authority (DPA) in order for the DPA to exercise its powers of investigation in its disposal and shed light on the contract between Palantir and the Greek Government (reg. nr C/EIS/8699/17-12-2020).

More specifically, under the GDPR and the Greek law implementing it (law 4624/2019), the DPA has the power to conduct in its territory investigations concerning the application of legislation on personal data protection and the power to gain access to all information necessary for the purposes of the respective investigation and for carrying out its duties, without the possibility of objection on grounds of any sort of confidentiality.

The lack of information and adequate briefing with regard to the cooperation between the Greek Government and Palantir Technologies Inc. has caused concern to data subjects in Greek territory.

What is more, no details about the cooperation agreement have been published either on the ‘Diavgeia’ or on the ‘KIMDIS’ platforms and no press releases have been issued by the competent Ministries.

It is worth noting that the company at issue is one of the most internationally recognized in the development of intrusive surveillance technologies and data analysis sectors. It has partnered with governments of several other European countries, such as France and Denmark, in the field of policing and, of course, it has been criticized for its cooperation with the US Government on the ICE programme.

Therefore, in light of insufficient information about the types and categories of data subject to processing in the framework of the services offered by Palantir Technologies Inc. to the Greek Government and of the overall obscurity concerning this particular agreement owing to the absence of relevant details published on ‘Diavgeia’ or ‘KIMDIS’ platforms, it has not been possible for the general public to study the terms and subject-matter of the agreement and this is a cause of serious concern about the processing operations carried out. The DPA with a key intervention can examine the agreement at issue on the basis of its powers of investigation. 

You can read our request here (link in Greek).

Journalist Eliza Triantafyllou published yesterday an excellent, detailed report on the contract between Palantir and the Greek Government, which includes the statements made by Homo Digitalis. You can read her report on Inside Story (link in Greek).

Furthermore, civil society organizations, such as Vouliwatch, and political parties have requested access to the contract at issue. Hence, Homo Digitalis’ action is strategic and complements well other actions that have already taken place.