Amsterdam police seize server linked to Italian internet group at U.S. request

Amsterdam police seized a server belonging to Italian group Autistici/Inventati at a data centre in the city, acting on a U.S. legal request.

The group provided free web hosting and email to about 20,000 organizations worldwide for 25 years.

The U.S. government says the group helped facilitate antifa, which the Trump administration considers a terrorist organization.

The group was itself designated a terrorist organization in late August, an unusual step against an internet service provider.

After the designation cut off its bank account and domain name, the volunteers decided to shut the group down.

Dutch police are making a digital copy to send to the United States, after which the physical server is to be returned to its owners.

A former volunteer said the encrypted server contains nothing that would cause problems for users, but the seizure points to the risks the group feared for people connected to it.