Amsterdam Police Seize Autistici Inventati Server for United States Authorities
On Tuesday, an Amsterdam police unit seized a server belonging to the Italian internet service provider Autistici/Inventati (A/I) at a datacenter on the Science Park in Amsterdam, Bnnvara reported. The seizure took place following a United States legal assistance request, with digital experts currently making a complete copy of the server’s contents to send directly to the United States, according to NRC. A/I operated for 25 years as a leftist, anticapitalist organization providing free web hosting and email services to approximately 20,000 organizations worldwide.
American Terrorism Designation Triggers Shutdown of Italian Provider
The United States government designated A/I as a terrorist organization in late August, alleging the provider facilitated “antifa,” an abbreviation for antifascists. This designation marked an unusual move, as internet service providers are typically not held legally responsible for user-generated online content. Following the American sanctions, the organization lost access to its bank account and domain name.
‼️ Amsterdam police seized a server of Autistici/Inventati, the Italian left-wing ISP the US branded a terrorist for serving antifa.A copy of its disk is apparently going straight to the US.They were about to scrap the encrypted server anyway, an insider says. pic.twitter.com/9qIFS9KcgY
Police Execution of the American Legal Assistance Request
Despite the complete dismantling of A/I, American authorities pursued the seizure of one of the provider’s remaining servers housed in the Dutch capital. Police technicians are currently creating a digital image of the hardware to transfer to American investigators, after which the physical server will be returned to the datacenter operator, Daily Standard noted.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Server Seizure
What data is stored on the seized Amsterdam server?
Police and sources close to the organization have not disclosed the exact contents of the data transferred to American authorities. An anonymous source involved with A/I maintained that the encrypted server contained no material capable of causing problems for legitimate users.
Where are the remaining Autistici/Inventati servers located?
A/I previously maintained servers across multiple locations throughout Europe. Over the preceding weeks, volunteers shut down those remaining nodes and wiped the storage drives prior to dissolving the legal structure.
When will the seized server be returned to the datacenter?
Once police digital forensic experts finish creating the complete data image requested by Washington, the physical hardware will be shipped back to the Amsterdam datacenter.
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