Autistici/inventati publishes 2002 manifesto calling for free internet services and anti-commercial governance

The 2002 manifesto publicly states Autistici/inventati’s ambition to "want everything" and to reclaim internet spaces for free communication and social projects. It frames the right to free, universally accessible digital resources as a core principle and proposes establishing an independent server as the starting point. The document lists the services they intend to host, web sites, e-mail, mailing lists, chats, blogs, newsletters, using their technical expertise. It also declares opposition to commercial, religious, and political party use of those services. The manifesto thus articulates a political-technical agenda that blends open-source advocacy with anti-commercial governance.

For engineers, the proposal to run an independent server implies deploying and maintaining the full stack of internet services without reliance on commercial providers. The group emphasizes using their "best skills and knowledge" to defend individuals and groups sharing their ideals, which suggests a reliance on free and open-source software and licenses. Because they reject "pay-ed services and web spaces," any implementation must be self-hosted, requiring hardware, bandwidth, and expertise that the collective must supply. The manifesto also highlights that a "plenum can be made permanent and continuous through the use of a mailing list," indicating a preference for asynchronous, list-based coordination rather than proprietary platforms. This technical stance shapes the architecture and tooling choices for anyone attempting to replicate their model.

Financially, the manifesto states the project has "no sponsors or funding of any kind, apart from voluntary donations" and that "none of us earns a cent." Consequently, the cost of adopting this approach falls on the contributors who must provide hardware, electricity, and maintenance out-of-pocket or via donations. The lack of commercial revenue means there is no budget for scaling infrastructure, professional support, or redundancy, which could limit reliability. Engineers must therefore weigh the trade-off between ideological purity and the practical expenses of sustaining independent services. The model also relies on community goodwill to cover these ongoing operational costs.

The manifesto explicitly excludes "commercial use, or to be used by organized religions or political parties," limiting the audience and potential collaborations. This restriction means that any software or service built under this banner cannot be offered to paying customers or entities with significant resources, narrowing its applicability. Additionally, decision-making "is taken collectively" through mailing lists, with "no coordinator, and no spokesperson, and decisions are not reached by voting," which may slow development cycles and make consensus difficult at scale. Engineers accustomed to hierarchical or agile processes may find the governance model challenging for large-scale projects.

Nonetheless, the manifesto’s emphasis on free knowledge sharing, open-source licensing, and collective self-management provides a concrete example of a non-commercial, politically motivated infrastructure model. For engineers interested in building resilient, community-run platforms, the document offers both a philosophical justification and a practical checklist of services to provide. Its longevity, noted as spanning from 2002 to 2023, suggests that such a model can persist despite the constraints outlined.