DISCLAIMER: if you are an american citizen check with your lawyer if you can sign this. we appreciate your solidarity but we care for your safety. stay safe.
Organizations may request to sign the open letter.
The public signatory list will display the organization name, website, country and optional public statement. Contact details used for verification will not be published.
This letter is an independent initiative of Sabot Media and We Will Free Us. The publishers and signatories do not represent, speak for, coordinate with or claim affiliation with Autistici/Inventati.
Letter for individuals to send to government officials
Individual letter template
Personalize this before sending it. Add why independent communications infrastructure matters to you and address it to a specific official, institution, provider or civil-liberties organization.
Suggested subject lines
- Respond publicly to the designation of Autistici/Inventati
- Communications infrastructure is not terrorism
- Protect independent hosting, publishing and movement archives
Letter
Dear [NAME OR INSTITUTION],
I am writing about the United States’ August 26 designation of the Italian communications collective Autistici/Inventati and the wider consequences for independent digital infrastructure.
A/I has provided noncommercial email, websites, mailing lists, Noblogs and other communications services since 2001. The government’s public announcements focus on material and organizations that allegedly used A/I infrastructure, but do not publicly show that the collective planned the cited actions, selected targets, directed users or authored hosted material.
This creates a dangerous precedent. If infrastructure providers can be economically isolated because controversial movements use their services, the consequences may extend to independent hosts, encrypted communications projects, libraries, archives, publishers and privacy-preserving services everywhere.
I ask you to:
- Examine and respond publicly to the designation.
- Defend the distinction between providing infrastructure and directing user conduct.
- Oppose institutional over-compliance that suppresses lawful reporting, research, archiving or communication.
- Support transparent review and meaningful public scrutiny of the government’s factual and legal basis.
[ADD TWO OR THREE PERSONAL SENTENCES HERE.]
Sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]
[CITY / REGION, OPTIONAL]
Who should receive this letter?
Sending one letter is useful. Sending personalized copies to several officials is better. Change the greeting for each recipient, add one or two sentences explaining why this matters to you, and submit every copy separately.
If you live in the United States
Send the letter to these four recipients first:
- Your U.S. representative: find their official website and contact form at https://house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative.
- Both of your U.S. senators: select your state at https://senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm. Most Senate offices use individual contact forms instead of public email addresses.
- The U.S. Treasury Department and Office of Foreign Assets Control: OFAC administers the sanctions designation. Use the official contact routes at https://ofac.treasury.gov/contact-ofac and https://home.treasury.gov/utility/contact. Ask that your message be recorded as opposition to the designation of Autistici/Inventati and forwarded to the officials responsible for Executive Order 13224 designations.
You can also send copies to:
- The U.S. State Department: https://register.state.gov/contactus
- The White House: https://whitehouse.gov/contact
- The House Foreign Affairs Committee: https://foreignaffairs.house.gov/contact
- The Senate Foreign Relations Committee: https://foreign.senate.gov/contact
If an online form limits the message length, remove the background paragraphs but preserve your demand: disclose the evidence, reverse the designation, and protect communications providers from being treated as responsible for everything their users publish.
You can also call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected to your representative or either senator. Tell the staff member that you are a constituent and want the office to oppose the designation of Autistici/Inventati.
If you live in the European Union
Send the letter to:
- Your national representatives and foreign ministry.
- Your Members of the European Parliament: find their profiles and direct contact information at https://europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/home.
- The European Parliament: submit a public inquiry at https://europarl.europa.eu/forms/en/ask-ep.
- The European Commission sanctions office: mailto:relex-sanctions@ec.europa.eu
Ask European officials what they will do to protect European organizations, banks, hosts, registrars and users from extraterritorial U.S. pressure and sanctions over-compliance.
Because A/I is based in Italy, you can also send the letter to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
- Public Information Office: mailto:urp@esteri.it
- Office of the Foreign Minister: mailto:gabinetto@esteri.it
- Ministry contact page: https://esteri.it/en/ministero/contatti
Ask the Italian government to state publicly whether it will defend an Italian volunteer communications project from extraterritorial economic isolation.
If you live elsewhere
Send the letter to:
- Your national representative or parliament member.
- Your country’s foreign ministry.
- Your country’s embassy in Washington, D.C.
- The Italian embassy or consulate serving your country.
- Any national authority responsible for sanctions, banking or digital rights.
Ask whether your government will allow domestic banks and technology providers to cut off a lawful European communications collective solely because of a unilateral U.S. designation.
Make your letter count
Use your own name and location. Add a sentence explaining whether you are a writer, publisher, journalist, technologist, librarian, researcher, organizer or ordinary internet user concerned about this precedent. Ask for a written response and save whatever you receive.
Do not send one mass email with every recipient exposed in the address field. Send individual copies, use the official contact form when required, and keep a record of whom you contacted.
This letter campaign is an independent solidarity effort. Sabot Media and We Will Free Us are not affiliated with and do not represent Autistici/Inventati.