Dutch cloud group questions US-requested seizure of provider’s server

Amsterdam police seized a server belonging to Italian internet provider Autistici/Inventati after a US legal assistance request. Dutch Cloud Community, a trade association for cloud and internet providers, says it is sending police a letter asking which Dutch authority reviewed the request and how other users’ data will be protected. [1] [3]

The server was taken from a data centre in east Amsterdam on Tuesday 13 October, according to the association. A police spokesperson told local broadcaster AT5 that officers intended to make a copy of the data available to the US and then return the server. The spokesperson did not specify which data would be copied. [1] [3]

The association says public statements had not made clear whether a Dutch judge or prosecutor had examined the request. It also warns that legal assistance must not be used to suppress political expression. ANP reports that the US placed Autistici/Inventati on a terrorism list in August, alleging that it facilitated “antifa”. The association’s warning is not a finding that political expression was targeted in the seizure. [1] [2]

A partial English rendering of an NRC report says Amsterdam prosecutors cited the US–Dutch treaty on criminal legal assistance and said the request had been assessed against Dutch law and the treaty’s grounds for refusal. That reported response challenges the suggestion that the request underwent no scrutiny, but does not establish who authorised the seizure or whether a judge issued a warrant. [4]

Whether a copy has reached the US is also unclear. The association says one has already been delivered, while the rendering of NRC’s 15 October report says the data had not yet been shared at that point. The police spokesperson’s earlier description concerned what officers intended to do, not a completed transfer. [1]