Amsterdam police seize Italian provider's server at US request
Police in Amsterdam are copying a server of the Italian internet provider Autistici/Inventati for the United States, which designated the organisation as a terrorist organisation in August.
Amsterdam police have seized a server belonging to the Italian internet service provider Autistici/Inventati (A/I) on the basis of a US mutual legal assistance request (rechtshulpverzoek). Police are making an "image", a digital copy of the server's contents, and making it available to the United States.
Making the copy is part of the US request. An Amsterdam police spokesperson said carrying out such a request is routine: "You just carry it out."
For years A/I offered free web hosting and e-mail services to organisations, about 20,000 of them over the past 25 years. The US government designated A/I as a terrorist organisation at the end of August, saying the organisation facilitated antifa.
rechtshulpverzoek
A mutual legal assistance request is a formal request from the authorities of one country to those of another for help with a criminal investigation, such as obtaining evidence, records, or data held abroad. In the Netherlands, these requests from foreign authorities are checked and carried out through the Dutch judicial system, under the public prosecutor's office and the rules of Dutch criminal procedure. The process is governed by Dutch law on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.