Italian technology collective Autistici/Inventati (A/I) said on Sunday it would shut down its services after a U.S. terrorism designation led to the suspension ​of its .org domain and the closure of its bank account.

The volunteer-run provider, founded in 2001, offers privacy-focused email, websites, mailing lists ​and blogging services to activists, campaigners and others seeking alternatives to ​commercial platforms.

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[–] 4 points 1 day ago

I hate this so much

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  • [–] 31 points 1 day ago (3 children)

    Two days later, autistici.org became unreachable after Public Interest Registry (PIR), the U.S.-based operator of ​the .org domain, placed it on serverHold status. PIR said it was legally required to ​suspend the domain following the designation.

    Banca Etica, an Italian lender where the collective held an ‌account, ⁠subsequently suspended the account, citing sanctions-related risks. The bank criticised what it described as the use of U.S. sanctions for political purposes.

    This is how it works. All they have to do is but you on that list and the whole US-linked and dollar-linked system takes you out of the economy.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 day ago (2 children)

    The fact that Banca Etica did this despite being otherwise very much good in their track record is nothing short of stupid.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 day ago (1 child)

    Not sure how it's stupid, banks have to follow the law. Yes it's a stupid law, but that's an issue for the national govt and the EU to address. The rule of law is one of the things that distinguishes us from the barbarians in the Trump admnistration.

    What needs to be done is European withdrawal from these treaties. If the US wants to try sanctioning the entire western world it will get interesting.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 day ago

    @thanksforallthefish @birdwing
    The EU are planning the "digital euro" as an alternative to the US stranglehold on international finance, but this will take YEARS to build, if ever!!
    And there is so much more they need to protect, inc the entire EU-based web.
    In any case, The World needs a secure, independent alternative to ICANN, before it goes rogue.

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  • [–] 61 points 2 days ago

    This is why EU needs financial and tech sovereignty.

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  • [–] 24 points 2 days ago

    they did so much good. this is sad.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 day ago

    This is so bad. After blackblogs' closure, is there any free wordpress hosting service left for left-wing projects? Where to move noblogs.org blogs?

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  • [–] 2 points 2 days ago (11 children)

    Why? Can't they operate for the rest of the world?

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  • [–] 25 points 2 days ago (10 children)

    Without a bank account and domain name?

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  • [–] 15 points 2 days ago (1 child)

    And they are also being targeted by US sponsored hackers so it's impossibile to keep services up this way. I hope this is a wake up call for someone but I don't think so.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 day ago*

    I hope this is a wake up call for someone

    Sure... a call for our corrupt politicians to increase their prices because it again became a bit harder to sell us out without affecting public opinion. Not that they actually care about the latter, but getting reelected means getting paid by their actual employers longer.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 days ago (7 children)

    There is no registrar left, like e.g. .ml was open for everybody? With crypto and Chinese banks, the banking should be possible.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 days ago* (4 children)

    It doesn't really matter if the registrar is .eu, .de or whatever. If US really wants to fuck you they are just gonna knock on ICANN door. As far as I know there is no escaping ICANN, that's still at the top of every domain, period.

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  • [–] 9 points 2 days ago (1 child)

    But then the EU has to take care of it. If we want IT independence and the US can ban any domain then it doesn't matter what else we do. Or rather, I think we don't actually aim for independence.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 day ago* (1 child)

    Thousands of people would need to switch their website urls and email addresses. At that point its pointless for people to stay with them. Easier to make a clean fresh start.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 day ago

    Easier for now. It's infrastructure for activists. Their clients should be willing to accept that inconvenience because their own risk rises if any domain can be switched off.

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