# Is hosting speech enough for a far-left hacker collective to be sanctioned? Source: https://p2p.coincenter.org/p/is-hosting-speech-enough-for-a-far Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Is-hosting-speech-enough-for-a-far-left-hacker-collective-to-be-sanctioned?index=0x6a91c105e85bfe4399628ebfb24c1dd89b74cce5bb94de9a86f314506564b13d2a76f772 Submitted by tim on 2026-08-28 UTC, 2 upvotes, 0 comments ## Summary The article, a newsletter piece by Peter (the byline is "Peter" at the end), argues that the State Department and Treasury's designation of Italian hosting collective Autistici/Inventati (A/I) as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist sits close to the limits of First Amendment and Berman Amendment protections for information and informational materials. It says the designation would be questionable if A/I merely transacted in information without particularized assistance to violent actors, but would be stronger if administrators helped choose targets or configured systems for planned attacks. The piece notes that A/I openly describes itself as a radical-left collective, reviews service requests on ideological grounds, and engineers its infrastructure to resist surveillance, while stating that these practices are not in themselves unlawful. ## Article Yesterday, the State Department and Treasury designated an Italian collective, Autistici/Inventati or A/I, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist and subjected it to sanctions. The designation warrants close scrutiny because much of what the government alleges as its basis is, effectively, the provision of communications and privacy infrastructure. Secretary Marco Rubio@SecRubio Far-left terrorism poses a profound threat to the United States and the broader West. Today, the United States sanctioned several transnational far-left terrorist networks, including Autistici/Inventati – a major far-left tech collective whose services are used by the most active 2:30 PM · Aug 26, 2026 · 2.11M Views 2.93K Replies · 7.96K Reposts · 47.9K Likes That doesn’t mean the sanctions are inappropriate. But it means the designation sits somewhere close to both the constitutional and statutory limits of sanctions authority. Our First Amendment limits the government’s ability to punish speech. Similarly, the Berman Amendments to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) deny the President authority to sanction transactions involving information and informational materials. But the A/I designation also alleges activities that may go beyond speech and information, and it is difficult to evaluate the legal significance of those facts until more details emerge. We did some quick digging to see what we could find about Autistici/Inventati on the internet from before the designation was announced. By all accounts, it is not a politically neutral hosting company. Since 2001, A/I has openly described itself as a radical-left collective providing email, web hosting, mailing lists, blogs, anonymity tools, and other communications infrastructure to groups broadly aligned with its anti-capitalist, antifascist, and anarchist politics. Nor does A/I appear to operate like a typical commercial hosting provider. A/I claimed to manually review requests for service based on the ideological aims of prospective users. After repeated encounters with European law enforcement, A/I also openly said they engineered their infrastructure to resist surveillance and minimize the identifying information they retain. Still, choosing who you do business with on ideological grounds is not itself unlawful, and minimizing your exposure to customers’ data is not only legal, it is good technical and security practice. The government’s August 26 fact sheet alleges that violent groups “relied on” A/I services to publish communiqués, claim responsibility for attacks, distribute manifestos, circulate maps, and share sabotage manuals. Much of that kind of activity is typically treated as speech in our constitutional tradition even when it is despicable. Much of those transactions sound, without further details, like transactions in “information or informational materials,” which the Berman Amendments to IEEPA remove from presidential sanctions authority. You can see why the facts matter here. If A/I really was merely transacting in information and offered no particularized assistance to bad actors with an intent to further their bad schemes, then this designation would be questionable. If, on the other hand, A/I administrators actively helped attackers choose targets, specifically configured systems for a known planned attack, provided bespoke assistance designed to evade law enforcement in connection with an attack, or otherwise participated in violent operations, the government has a substantially stronger case for sanctions and other enforcement. It’s important to stay level headed. Some of the apparent users were not merely distasteful political radicals. The government identifies groups responsible for firebombings, rail sabotage, attacks on energy infrastructure, and other acts of political violence. But if, in our zeal to stop these people from committing further violent acts, we support a rule that effectively allows the President to censor and sanction mere speech and communications infrastructure, then we will have further cut down the precious protections our laws and Constitution provide. There are some parallels to Tornado Cash, of course. Roman Storm’s prosecution is back in the news because the SDNY has now set an April 26, 2027 retrial on the two conspiracy charges, money laundering and sanctions violations, on which the jury deadlocked the first time around. Additionally, Roman took to Twitter this week describing how he never ran a relayer for private transactions, while Chainalysis, as emerged in the court record, apparently did. Roman Storm 🇺🇸 🌪️@rstormsf One thing before I start: everything in this post is public information from my own docket. None of it is new, and I'm not revealing anything you can't already find in the court filings yourself. The retrial just got pushed to April 26, 2027. The order came down today (Dkt. 10:29 PM · Aug 25, 2026 · 346K Views 62 Replies · 403 Reposts · 1.61K Likes Unlike the Tornado Cash developers, and even the Tornado Cash token holders, relayers interacted directly with Tornado Cash users and charged a fee for doing so. That puts relayers much closer to the conduct side of a speech (protected) versus conduct (unprotected) distinction for First Amendment and Berman Amendment purposes. We argued this point extensively during the first trial in our amicus brief to the court. - Peter What else we’re reading U.S. Citizen Who Deleted Phone’s Data Says His Prosecution Puts Privacy at Risk - We discussed this case in a previous issue: “Every phone should have a self-destruct feature: if a thief takes it, it dies; if a kidnapper forces its owner to unlock it, it dies. In the language of contributory copyright liability, this technology is plainly capable of substantial lawful uses. Criminals do not get a heckler’s veto over everyone else’s security.” Bank Secrecy Act Crushes Small Businesses Robert Frommer@Robert_Frommer Back in 2019, Peter Thiel warned the Manhattan Institute that AI, big data, and centralized databases threatened to create a surveillance system where “the big eye of Sauron watching you at all times, in all places.” Funny what seven years can change. 7:46 PM · Aug 22, 2026 · 2.73K Views 6 Replies · 15 Reposts · 66 Likes Flock has people thinking about privacy in a new light. It seems like we may have hit a tipping point. We are finally fed up with surveillance. Now let’s see if we can roll back some of the creeping expansions of the last few decades. Jonathan Keeperman@L0m3z I really don't dislike or distrust Flock specifically, but there are real, foundational privacy concerns at stake here. The sanctity of one's privacy, knowing that you are not always being watched, does not require justification. It is a good unto itself. 7:22 PM · Aug 23, 2026 · 113K Views 19 Replies · 30 Reposts · 331 Likes caro@Carobailey864 @L0m3z 11:37 PM · Aug 23, 2026 · 2.38K Views 2 Reposts · 41 Likes Thanks for reading. If there’s anything you’d like to see us discuss, please let us know. Share