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The Nuclear Bunker Where Wikileaks Will Be Located

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the can-we-have-a-party-here dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Engadget has photos of 'Pionen White Mountains, the nuclear bunker in which Wikileaks will locate some of its servers. It was excavated 98 feet underground, in a rock hill in the center of Stockholm, Sweden, during the Cold War.' It looks like they hired the same interior designer who decorated Batman's lair."

20 of 187 comments (clear)

  1. Why? by zabby39103 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What benefit is there to using these bunkers? If Wikileaks is shut down it will be by court order, not by nuclear missile. I don't see the purpose of paying for their fancy fountain/lighting set up with your server maintenance fees.

    1. Re:Why? by Improv · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Although some of it is frills, doing it underground does largely eliminate seasonal variation and might make security and general environmental control easier. For ordinary server rooms that can be a big expense.

      --
      For every problem, there is at least one solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
    2. Re:Why? by mark72005 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Publicity.

    3. Re:Why? by Thelasko · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If Wikileaks is shut down it will be by court order, not by nuclear missile.

      Or they could just cut the network cable. No use running a web server that's not connected to a network.

      --
      One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
  2. Servers? What servers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    We ain't got no steenkin' servers. We spent all our money with Gary, our Designer.

  3. What's the point? by eln · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is just grandstanding really. A nuclear bunker data center is no more secure from law enforcement than any other data center. Sure, you get better protection from natural disasters and whatnot, but if the cops come in with a court order to shut it down, the nuclear bunker people are no safer than anyone else unless they plan on hiring an army and defending the place to the death. Even then, the government just needs to get a court order to force all of their upstream network providers to cut them off and they'll be just as screwed as any other data center. After all, "leaking" documents to a collection of servers underground is not particularly effective if those servers can't connect to the Internet.

    The survivability of Wikileaks in Sweden is entirely dependent on the Swedish government's willingness to let them be there, and nothing else. The servers could exist in a cave underground or a data center with a big sign that says "Wikileaks is here" in downtown Stockholm. Either way, if the Swedish governments decides they want it gone, it's going to be gone.

    1. Re:What's the point? by bsDaemon · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Your contention is that people will side with Wikileaks if they get caught up in a dragnet approach by the government. Country point: it is at least equally likely that people affected by such a move would side against Wikileaks, blaming Wikileaks for putting them (Johan Six-Herring) in such a position and wish them gone so as to stop inconveniencing everyone else.

  4. no a bunker makes it easy to cut the data / power by Joe+The+Dragon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    no a bunker makes it easy to cut the data / power cable!

  5. Because they can by Joce640k · · Score: 2, Insightful

    That is enough.

    --
    No sig today...
  6. Structurally sound? by mr100percent · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm looking at this photo of one of the rooms. Is having a glass room suspended from the ceiling really such a good idea for a bunker designed to withstand blasts? It seems like a very bad idea to make a structurally sound bunker with that kind of room. Unless you want your manager to be the first one to die in his office

  7. weakest link is the external data cable by peter303 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You have to connect to the network somehow.

  8. two words: "heat dissipation" by circletimessquare · · Score: 3, Insightful

    bunkers or caves usually ARE cool and don't swing radically up or down in temperature...

    until you put a bunch of servers in them

    then they heat up, and STAY hot, and are harder to cool than on the surface because there is nowhere to dissipate the heat

    also: they are hard to get supplies to and build in, they have air quality issues, etc

    yeah: they look really cool and they sound really cool, but in actual practicality, the idea of servers in caves or bunkers sucks

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:two words: "heat dissipation" by Hasai · · Score: 2, Insightful

      ....You know, that really would work!

      --

      Regards;

      Hasai

  9. Re:Disappointed by davester666 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    What is the point of it being underground like this?

    To survive some kind of explosive attack?

    Anybody that is at all determined to disable access to this server would just need to snip the internet cable running into this bunker (and yes, jam/intercept any wireless connection it may have) and then prevent WikiLeaks from fixing it.

    --
    Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  10. Re:Disappointed by dave420 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's there:

    1. To make the servers physically safer
    2. Because it impresses investors

    It's not in a bunker to ensure uptime, but to ensure istime.

  11. Re:Disappointed by lgw · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If the Swedish Police, or US government, for some reason decides that Wikileaks must be shut down an underground bunker won't help at all. It seems pointless, but then Wikileaks is all about the drama.

    --
    Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  12. Re:Seriously? by John+Hasler · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They can't hope to locate themselves anywhere. They've made themselves extralegal in all jurisdictions.

    There are probably some European countries where they could be prosecuted but they have not violated any USA law.

    --
    Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
  13. Re:Disappointed by shoehornjob · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Because they are underground it is much easier to control the climate. They are not as affected by poor weather going on upstairs. And let's not forget the batcave factor. That would be a very cool place to hang out.

    --
    "We are just a war away from Amerikastan. When god vs god the undoing of man." Dave Mustaine
  14. Re:Who's paying for all of this by ceejayoz · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They're buying space in an existing colo facility with probably hundreds of other paying customers. Probably just a couple of cabinets. They're not building the thing.

  15. Re:Disappointed by NeverVotedBush · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It will also be much easier to control access.

    Someone should tag it pionenforthefjords, though. ;-)