A/I Shuts Down: The Autistici/Inventati Collective Ends 25 Years of Free, Privacy-First Services
A/I shuts down – Stay human
The Autistici/Inventati (A/I) collective, a long-standing provider of free, privacy-focused digital tools, has announced its shutdown. After being designated a global terrorist organization on August 26, 2026, the collective has decided to discontinue all services to protect its users and communities from legal and financial repercussions. The announcement reflects on 25 years of operation and urges supporters to continue the resistance offline. Instructions for data backup will follow.
Now turn off your PCs, get out of your homes, struggle, hug each other and keep on smiling. We are stopping, but the Resistance and ideas do not stop. Stay human.
- unfocso
Really sad, and also a testament of the fact that as much as we think we try to be indipendent, eventually once somebody starts putting enough pressure on the people around you (and you turn from "a neutral customer" to "a liability") the path to isolation is very short.
- InsideOutSanta
I hereby designate the US government an international terrorist organization.
- flohofwoe
Hmm, I would have expected more outrage from the US "free speech absolutists" over this US government decision ;)
- rdtsc
> The anarchist cells responsible for sabotaging rail systems across France, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands in 2026, relied on A/I Collective tools and services to claim responsibility for the attacks
Hmm. So they are going by “A/I vets its users” and users sabotaged rail systems so therefore A/I is materially assisting terrorists? I wonder how this vetting works? Do users have to submit government issued documents, write essays? Do they make users sign non-violence agreement ToS. I mean heck, Facebook and Twitter has material supporting various things like that and US government is designated them as terrorists.
- lrvick
We must all fight for independent hosting or we will lose the right.
Punish those trying to stop it by coming back stronger. Spin up in a few new countries if you have to.
Friends and I have been giving out free shell accounts, service hosting, and mentorship for anon randos for over 25 years. Apparently this makes us cyber-terrorists. Neat!
We have had our infrastructure taken from us many times, and quickly come back online, often in a new country, every time.
Looking forward to 25 more years of people trying to kill us. Every attempt makes us stronger and smarter.
- Normal_gaussian
I wasn't aware of this group; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autistici/Inventati is their wiki article, but it is a little light on details.
Some of the claims are interesting - "Decision making in the group takes places collectively instead of through majority voting." - isn't explained by the sourced article.
- sdcfgy
This reminds me how fragile the internet is and how we need other channels of communication.
- postit
I'm wondering how long until they target CCC :/
- Dansvidania
I have no way to verify whether the collective really helped the violent acts that are cited in the designation[1] but, as an Italian, given the dialectic and rhetoric in their statements and in their websites, it would not surprise me if this once they - the US government - were not wrong. "A broken clock marks the right time twice a day" and all that.
I have experienced this kind of language personally back when the collective started (they have root in the no-global movement, a protest group that contributed to the violence at the Genova G8).
At the time I was a young activist on their side, but the 'we are not violent' wink-wink nudge-nudge attitude was not main stream but very much all over the place and became hard to ignore.
[1]https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/20...
edit: forgot the link to the designation
- andlarry
Here is the State Department's rationale: https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/20...