Sovreignity Shutdown - No Infrastructure is Safe: The US sanctions of Autistici/Inventati
31 October 2026 · 5pm–7.30pm
Doors open at 4.30pm
Free – Register now
Where: Stadtwerkstatt - how to find
Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 11
10178 Berlin
Max 80 Participants.
On August 26, 2026, the United States Department of State under the leadership of Secretary Rubio designated the Italian hacktivist collective Autistici/Inventati as a “global terrorist group”, alleging that it provided support to radical violent actions. This act was conducted without any actual legal process neither in the EU or in the US and, following the freezing of A/I bank accounts and users’ donations by Banca Etica, the collective was forced to shut down after 25 years of activity.
Autistici/Inventati was a non-profit association born in Italy in April 2001, with the aim to provide free, independent platforms for digital self-defense and safe channels of communication to activists and creatives. They provided 20,000 email accounts, 10,000 blogs on the NoBlogs platform, 5,000 mailing lists, and 1,500 websites. Their work was based on principles of anti-fascism, anti-racism, anti-sexism, anti-homophobia, anti-transphobia, anti-militarism, and non-commercialism.
The A/I project originated from the encounters of individuals and collectives of the Italian autonomous grassroots movement interested in technology and active in the digital rights struggle (such as Indymedia Italia and others around the G8 summit in Genoa). For more than two decades A/I has been hosting a platform which was more than a technical tool, but also a vision for collective empowerment, addressing the need of free communication for activists and other individuals all over the world. The blogs, websites and mailing lists hosted by the collective contained an important piece of history spanning 25 years of independent Internet culture, technological self-determination and community exchange.
This case is far from being just an isolated Italian hacktivist case, and it can be considered a direct threat to European digital sovereignty, fundamental civil rights, and everyday infrastructure.
What happened to A/I is a consequence of a global political repression that is currently taking place, and it is not surprising, considering that last July the United States Department brought together governments from across the globe at the Ministerial on the Resurgence of Political Terrorism to address "the rise of far-left political terrorism as a transnational threat" - as they put it. With this case, we are witnessing some of the consequences. In this case the shocking aspect is that the people that are hit by this have been providing free technological infrastructure, offering the service, not the contents.
What do these sanctions mean for German independent tech infrastructures and open-source networks? Why is the case of Autistici/Inventati so relevant both in Germany, Europe and worldwide? Are there measures to counter these threats? And if yes, what could they be?
These questions will be the focus of our event “Sovreignity Shutdown - No Infrastructure is Safe: The US sanctions of Autistici/Inventati”, where speakers with different expertise, members of our community and all those concerned by this global threat to digital rights are invited to share ideas, exchange strategies of resistance and stand in solidarity with Autistici/Inventati.
Read our statement of solidarity · More at keepitfree.ai
Funded by: The Reva and David Logan Foundation, Re-Imagine Europe (Co-funded by the European Union).
Disruption Network Lab is part of New Perspectives for Action (2023-2027). A project by Re-Imagine Europe, a collaboration between Paradiso and Sonic Acts (NL), Elevate Festival (Austria), A4 (SK), INA GRM (FR), Borealis (NO), KONTEJNER (HR), RUPERT (LT), Semibreve (PT), Parco d’Arte Vivente (IT), Disruption Network Lab (DE), BEK (NO), Kontrapunkt (MK) and Radio Web MACBA (ES). Co-funded by the European Union.