U.S. sanctions against the A/I Collective(inventati.org)
697 points by exiguus 13 days ago | 747 comments
tl;dr: A/I (Autistici/Inventati), an Italian volunteer collective founded in 2001 that provides free, non-commercial digital communication tools for activists, has been hit with U.S. sanctions. The group operates on donations, manually vets each user request, and is rooted in anticapitalist, autonomous movement principles emphasizing solidarity and self-organization. The page itself provides little detail on the sanctions beyond the headline, focusing mainly on the collective's mission and service request process.
HN Discussion:
  • Sanctioning infrastructure providers as terrorists sets a dangerous precedent for privacy tools and devs
  • ~Deplatforming culture is now backfiring on the left as predicted
  • Sharing historical context about A/I's activist roots and significance
  • Requesting evidence or clarification about the group's actual activities and alleged PKK ties
  • Presenting the State Department's official justification for the sanctions