<nettime> Andrea Capocci: A/I closes, US pressure proves too much (Il Manifesto):

[Patrice Riemens via nettime-l <nettime-l@lists.nettime.org>]

Original to:

https://ilmanifesto.it/chiude-la-piattaforma-autistici-inventati-troppo-forte-la-stretta-statunitense

(with in the right hand column all Manifesto articles on A/I

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The Autistici/Inventati platform shuts down: US pressure proves too much

Data at the mercy of others


The pressure resulting from US sanctions against the group – which was labelled ‘terrorist’ without any evidence – led to the decision to suspend all services. The lack of political support in Italy and across Europe did the rest

The pressure caused by the sanctions imposed by the United States against Autistici/Inventati has been too great, and the decision is a devastating one. “The Autistici/Inventati collective is closing down and will suspend all services in the short term,” the group states in a statement that could not be more direct. More than the difficulties caused by the economic measures, what weighs heavily is the realisation that the collective is the target of a hybrid war waged by the Trump administration with no regard for the rules. “In this climate, continuing to offer our services is simply an additional danger for our service users, and for everyone who is part of our communities,” explains the collective. ‘The very real possibility that we could be the cause of criminal or financial consequences for someone close to us, or even someone who merely interacts with us, leaves us with no other choice.’ Users will receive technical instructions in the coming days on how to retrieve their content from the platform. It is worth emphasising that there is a great deal of material to save. ‘It has been 25 wonderful years. It has been a “beautiful story”.’

Since 26 August, when the collective was included – without any evidence – on the list of ‘global terrorists’ to be economically isolated, everything has come to a head in the space of a few days. The servers being taken offline and the funds frozen by Banca Etica certainly played a part. But the cyber-attacks from overseas, accompanied by surveillance operations carried out on behalf of the Pentagon – part of a broader global strategy launched by the Trump administration – made it clear that this was not just one of the many battles against censorship that Autistici/Inventati has fought and won over the past twenty-five years. The lack of support from Italian and European politicians did the rest.

The collective’s history began in 2001 – the watershed year of the Twin Towers and the G8 summit in Genoa. At the time, Big Tech was in its infancy and the internet still seemed a relatively free space. Since then, Autistici/Inventati has become the main tool for those wishing to use the internet without handing over their data to commercial giants or surveillance agencies. The platform hosted over seven thousand websites run by users, collectives and associations from all over the world, as well as countless mailing lists and email accounts. On several occasions, the services offered by the group have come under scrutiny from the judicial authorities. There was no shortage of shady operations carried out against them, such as when the police staged a power cut to seize the data stored on the servers. The political world, too, has often taken notice, particularly when the blogs hosted on the platform exercised their right to satirise the Vatican, Trenitalia and other touchy entities that have asked in vain for their activities to be blocked.

In over two decades of eventful existence, however, Autistici/Inventati’s ‘criminal record’ has remained clean.

It took the arbitrary action of a foreign government – namely Trump’s – to bring the collective to its knees. The lack of any initiative to defend freedom of expression within national and European institutions is one of the most disturbing aspects of this affair.

The White House’s ‘war plan’ against anti-fascists was, in fact, shared with the allies of the Sovereignist International at the Washington summit on 12 July, to which Giorgia Meloni insisted on sending a government representative, even against the reservations of her allies. It is no coincidence that, a month after the summit, the US sanctions were welcomed by her very own political camp, which, through FDI representatives and friendly media outlets, launched an all-out campaign against the collective. But if the right-wing government applauds an autocrat who tramples on our rule of law and the opposition stands by and watches, it is not just Autistici/Inventati that is faltering.


(Deepl-ed by yrs truly)
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