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FBI Seizes Server Providing Anonymous Remailer Service

Posted by timothy on from the arrogance-of-power-button dept.

sunbird writes "At 16:00 ET on April 18, federal agents seized a server located in a New York colocation facility shared by May First / People Link and Riseup.net. The server was operated by the European Counter Network ("ECN"), the oldest independent internet service provider in Europe. The server was seized as a part of the investigation into bomb threats sent via the Mixmaster anonymous remailer received by the University of Pittsburgh that were previously discussed on Slashdot. As a result of the seizure, hundreds of unrelated people and organizations have been disrupted."

13 of 355 comments (clear)

  1. What does this help? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Unless the server was keeping logs, and I presume that it wasn't, how could seizing it possibly help the investigation?

    1. Re:What does this help? by Wowsers · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's a clear signal to people that if you run a business and your server is in the US, the US can kill your business stone dead in a raid which may have nothing to do with you other than being co-hosted at a server farm. And people wonder why less business is going to the US.

      --
      Take Nobody's Word For It.
    2. Re:What does this help? by cyachallenge · · Score: 5, Funny

      If you remember in some of the pirate bay litigation they actually seized the computer RAM. :) The RAM contained case relevant material (at least when it had voltage going through it. Law and technical computer topics rarely mix well.

  2. Did they at least manage to figure out what server by Qzukk · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Or did they just kick over all the racks and rip everything out like they seem to do on a regular basis?

    --
    If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
  3. Correction by busyqth · · Score: 5, Funny

    FBI seizes terrorist server run by commies.
    Grateful American people throw candy and flowers at heroic agents.

  4. nonsense by Tom · · Score: 5, Interesting

    More importantly: Unless the server operator was a total dofus, this brings them exactly zero steps towards resolving their problem, because this is exactly the kind of attack that Mixmasters was designed to withstand.

    Idiots. Is nobody teaching these fools basics about the stuff they encounter?

    --
    Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
    1. Re:nonsense by tibit · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So, they really need a whole big stinkin' server? If you're a professional, you'd switch the server to single user mode, dump the drive contents to a portable drive, reboot the server, and be on your merry way. If they have proper forensic data analysis tools, they should be able to deal with all popular raid arrays out there, so given those you shut the server down, use a portable disk imager to copy the drives, you then replace the drives, power the server back up, and are on your merry way. I just don't get what they need the server itself for. They are after the data, not the hardware.

      --
      A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
    2. Re:nonsense by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Have you ever done data forensics? The first thing you learn is that it's not the same data if it's not on the original storage medium.

      Of course, what they SHOULD be able to do is shut the server down, clone the drive, pull the drive that has the warrant, and drop in the cloned drive. Of course, this requires cooperation with the victim, which obviously wasn't available in this case.

      To put it another way: they weren't after the hardware OR the data, they were after the incriminating evidence. Data by itself is hearsay (no way to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was preserved in the same state and context).

  5. Can You Say False Flag Opp? by msaroff · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Someone bosts a gazillion bomb threats, and computers associated with OWS and other protests get seized.

    Awfully convenient.

    Any guess as to whether the bomb threats can be traced back th Langley or Ft. Meade?

  6. Re:What did you expect? by v1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If we dont let them send bomb threats, we're undermining free speech and the Internet"

    To which I reply "They need to find a different way to discourage or stop them from sending bomb threats. Inflicting me with collateral damage in the quest for better law enforcement is unacceptable, and so is removing my ability to speak with anonymity."

    Given the choice, I think I'd rather deal with the occasional bomb threat than not be able to speak anonymously.

    --
    I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
  7. They had a warrant. by cpu6502 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    They followed proper constitutional procedure (for a change). So blame the judge not the fbi.

    --
    My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
  8. Re:What did you expect? by DdJ · · Score: 5, Interesting

    FYI, we're not dealing with "the occasional bomb threat" here.

    The University of Pittsburgh (which is down the street from where I work) has gotten multiple bomb threats per day every day for weeks now.

    Many students have been driven out of their dorms, to live off campus, because the evacuations were too disruptive. The campus police are no doubt way over budget. Classes are disrupted to the point where folks on academic probation were told this semester "doesn't count".

    At this moment, as I type this, two buildings have evacuation notices. Earlier today, eleven buildings had to be evacuated.

    And today was not exceptional.

    If you want to follow this yourselves, evacuation notices go out over the @PittTweet twitter account.

    Now, I'm not trying to say "knocking every anonymous remailer off the internet is justified". Please don't assume I think that. I'm just pointing out that this very much isn't a case of "the occasional bomb threat". It's basically a full-on ongoing multi-day denial-of-service attack on the Pitt police, Pittsburgh police, and a bunch of the university, happening in meatspace.

  9. Who will FBI the FBI ? by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Look, We're the FBI. That means your fucked, no matter what you do."

    The question that is begging to be asked is ---

    Who will FBI the FBI ?

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !