[Chapter-delegates] We should speak up about the disabling of autistici.org

[Sebastian Bellagamba]

Dear Chapter Delegates,

I want to follow up on my initial note about PIR’s suspension of autistici.org and to thank those of you who have reached out and shared your concerns.

The affected .ORG domain name was identified on the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list (SDN List). As a U.S.-based organization, PIR is legally required to comply with U.S. law and was legally mandated to suspend the domain, with failure to comply potentially exposing PIR to significant civil and criminal liability. The registrant of the domain has the right to challenge the designation.

While this sets out the legal context for PIR’s action, our focus is on the broader principle at stake. We believe the Internet is for everyone. We support the people who use it, build it, and depend on it, including civil society organizations and communities around the world that rely on access to Internet infrastructure to organize, communicate, and participate in public life. Our concern is the wider principle: protecting an open and globally connected Internet, including the secure and private communications on which people and communities depend.

We put our commitment to these principles into practice across all of our work. We defend strong encryption and secure, private communications. We advocate for policies that protect the Internet’s open architecture and resist fragmentation. We support communities working to expand resilient connectivity. And through our grants and philanthropic initiatives, we help strengthen the security of civil society and public interest organizations.

Above all, we work with our global community, benefiting from your experience, expertise, and local leadership, to make the case for an Internet that remains open and globally connected. Especially when those principles are tested. This work began long before the present situation, and it will continue.

Best,

Sebastian

Sebastián Bellagamba, VP, External and Community Engagement
bellagamba at isoc.org
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internetsociety.org<http://www.internetsociety.org> | @internetsociety
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