Amsterdam police seize server belonging to leftist internet service provider A/I at US request - NRC (NL)

Amsterdam police seize server belonging to leftist internet service provider A/I at US request - by Marloes de Koning for NRC (NL)

On Tuesday, a unit of the Amsterdam police seized a server belonging to the Italian internet service provider Autistici/Inventati (A/I) at a data center in Amsterdam’s Science Park. The seizure was carried out pursuant to a US request for legal assistance. A copy of the server’s contents is now being sent to the US.

A/I was a left-wing, anti-capitalist organization that had provided free web hosting and email services to around twenty thousand organizations worldwide over the past twenty-five years. According to the US government, A/I thereby facilitated ‘Antifa’—short for ‘anti-fascists’. The Trump administration views Antifa as a terrorist organization; consequently, A/I itself was designated as a terrorist entity in late August. This was unprecedented; as a rule, internet service providers are not held liable for the content their users post online.

As a result of the sanction, the organization lost access to its bank account and domain name. Just over a week after the sanction was announced, the volunteers running the service decided to cease operations and dismantle A/I.

They took this step to avoid putting individuals or organizations at risk due to their ties to A/I—such as being donors or users of A/I’s web hosting or email services.

The seizure of the server in Amsterdam suggests that this fear is not unfounded. Amsterdam police had the server collected following a US request for legal assistance. “You simply carry that out,” a spokesperson said by phone. Police digital experts are currently creating an ‘image’—a digital copy—of the server. “That goes straight to America.” The owners will receive the server back afterwards. A/I had servers located at various sites across Europe. Over the past few weeks, these have been shut down and the drives wiped, says an insider who is speaking only on condition of anonymity for safety reasons. Dissolving and dismantling the legal entity—A/I is a type of foundation—takes time, he explains. Under Italian law, a non-profit organization is required to have no remaining assets upon dissolution. A small group of former volunteers is handling the winding-up process, with minimal contact between them.

The server in the Netherlands was “one of the last pieces of hardware we wanted to get rid of. We were in touch with DC1 (the data center, a distant successor to Xs4all) about it.” According to him, the encrypted server contains nothing that could cause problems for A/I users. “I’m not worried. Just surprised.” The spokesperson had hoped that dissolving the organization would satisfy the Americans.

From: NRC