The Personal Data Protection Authority was visited by the president of SYRIZA PS, Alexis Tsipraswhere he had a meeting with the president of the Independent Authority, Constantinos Menoudakos, on the issue of surveillance and personal data breaches.

“Today I had the opportunity to visit the Personal Data Protection Authority and talk to its head. A critical Authority in an age of breach of personal data, critical and sensitive personal data,” said Al. Tsipras after the meeting.

As he pointed out, “the Authority for the Protection of Personal Data and the Authority for Ensuring the Privacy of Telecommunications were two independent Authorities that played a crucial role of institutional counterweight in the Mitsotakis government’s operation to catalyze every concept of the Constitution and violate the privacy of communications in order to monitor almost half political system”.

“Mr. Mitsotakis, in fact, was the one who tried last summer, before the scandal broke out, with a move to replace the two heads of the two Authorities, for understandable reasons”, he argued, stressing: “the two heads played a crucial role, as the Constitution mandates, and today we know, we have findings about the fact that the EYP was monitoring party leaders, MEPs, ministers, the leaders of the Armed Forces. As well as the fact that through the illegal Predator software over 300 illegal sms, infected sms, were sent to over 100 of our fellow citizens.”

He underlined that “this parastatal function is a critical issue”, expressing the opinion that “in any European country, the responsible mind, the moral author, unfortunately the prime minister of the country would have resigned. Today it is just silent. He doesn’t give answers. As he did not give any answer to the recent blatant case of “Artemis Sifford, executive of Meta, ex-Facebook, who was under surveillance both by the conventional method of the EYP, but also by the illegal Predator software”.

“However, the crucial thing is that the database, which exists only in the Ministry of Digital Policy and concerns the vaccination appointment, was used in order to send an infected message to be locked up and put under surveillance. Mr. Mitsotakis is therefore invited to provide answers. Is it possible today for the citizen to feel completely insecure about even the most sensitive personal data? Even for vaccination appointments?” continued Al. Tsipras, and concluded:

“The crucial thing is that today the citizen feels completely insecure towards a state that, when it does not offer him any security, spies on him. And it’s even in its most sensitive data. So we need a state next to the citizen. We need a democratic, free state, and a state that will give security to the citizen. And this is one of the important stakes of the next election.”