In the aftermath of the Trump administration’s arbitrary designation of the collective Autistici/Inventati (A/I) as ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorist’, we are deeply concerned about the collective’s shutdown. 

As a group of academics engaged in the study and practice of emancipatory forms of digital sovereignty, we believe that A/I represents a piece of history of the free Internet, rooted in free software communities, defending online civic liberties and freedom of information. Its efforts in providing privacy-protecting infrastructure built from the ground up are a core representation of the freedom-based philosophy that accompanied the development of the early Internet and provided alternatives to surveillance capitalism.

The US sanctions against A/I do not target an operational organisation but the provider of an infrastructure. By that, they set a precedent as it extends the logic of countermeasures against actors deemed dangerous to those who provide technical services that could be used by such actors. This opens the door to a whole new wave of sanctions and measures against organisations in Western democracies and around the world.

At a time when the European Union is pursuing a digital sovereignty agenda and building resilient and autonomous local cloud infrastructures, initiatives such as A/I should be protected and recognized as pioneers of decentralized, secure and sovereign hosting. This European-born project was offering infrastructures for hundreds of NGOs, democratic groups, media, academics across Europe and the globe. It represented a real, working and ethical alternative to the Big Tech corporations. 

The Trump administration’s move pushed A/I offline and deprived it of its most essential means for everyday functioning. It did so through an arbitrary act that pushed private actors, namely Public Internet Registry and Banca Etica, to deprive A/I of its communication and financial means respectively. The silence of the EU Commission and the Italian government are a worrying sign of the EU’s lack of agency in defending its civil society and digital sovereignty.

Stepping up to allow A/I to resume its activity is a chance for the European Union to display digital sovereignty by defending a Europe-based civil society initiative against a third-party government’s arbitrary actions. 

As academics, we cherish freedom of thought as the most fundamental seed of human development and emancipation. In this deeply worrying moment, we stand in solidarity with Autistici/Inventati.

The Claimsov Team