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On Wednesday April 18th, a server hosted in Riseup's NYC facility
was<br>
seized without warning by the US Federal authorities. Be assured,
the<br>
machine does not have any Riseup data on it. The machine that was
seized<br>
was operated by the European Counter Network (ECN), an Italian<br>
technology collective with a deep history providing email, lists and
web<br>
hosting services to colleagues around the world supporting social
change<br>
movements.<br><br>
To repeat: no Riseup service or user data is on this machine. No
Riseup<br>
keys or certificates are on the machine. Furthermore, the root<br>
file system of this machine is encrypted.<br><br>
The server was seized because it hosted an email anonymizer called<br>
Mixmaster. By design, Mixmaster stores zero data, which the FBI is
well<br>
aware of. In a display of gross overreach, they decided to seize the<br>
machine anyway.<br><br>
For more information, please read the full press release:<br>
<a href="https://riseup.net/seizure-2012-april" eudora="autourl">
https://riseup.net/seizure-2012-april<br><br>
</a>The Riseup Collective<br>
******************************************<br>
Server Seizure, April 2012<br>
April 18th, 2012, Riseup had a server seized by the US Federal
Authorities. This is our press release.<br><br>
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br><br>
FBI seizes server providing anonymous remailer and many other services
from colocation facility.<br>
Contacts:<br><br>
Riseup Networks, Devin Theriot-Orr, 206-708-8740,
sunbird@riseup.net<br>
May First/People Link, Jamie McClelland, 917-509-5734,
jm@mayfirst.org<br>
ECN: Isole Nella Rete, inr@riseup.net<br><br>
Attack on Anonymous Speech¶<br><br>
On Wednesday, April 18, at approximately 16:00 Eastern Time, U.S. Federal
authorities removed a server from a colocation facility shared by Riseup
Networks and May First/People Link in New York City. The seized server
was operated by the European Counter Network (“ECN”), the oldest
independent internet service provider in Europe, who, among many other
things, provided an anonymous remailer service, Mixmaster, that was the
target of an FBI investigation into the bomb threats against the
University of Pittsburgh.<br><br>
“The company running the facility has confirmed that the server was
removed in conjunction with a search warrant issued at the request of the
FBI,” said May First/People Link director Jamie McClelland. “The server
seizure is not only an attack against us, but an attack against all users
of the Internet who depend on anonymous communication.”<br><br>
Disrupted in this seizure were academics, artists, historians, feminist
groups, gay rights groups, community centers, documentation and software
archives and free speech groups. The server included the mailing list
“cyber rights” (the oldest discussion list in Italy to discuss this
topic), a Mexican migrant solidarity group, and other groups working to
support indigenous groups and workers in Latin America, the Caribbean and
Africa. In total, over 300 email accounts, between 50-80 email lists, and
several other websites have been taken off the Internet by this action.
None are alleged to be involved in the anonymous bomb threats. The seized
machine did not contain any riseup email accounts, lists, or user data.
Rather, the data belonged to ECN.<br><br>
“The FBI is using a sledgehammer approach, shutting down service to
hundreds of users due to the actions of one anonymous person,” said Devin
Theriot-Orr, a spokesperson for Riseup. “This is particularly misguided
because there is unlikely to be any information on the server regarding
the source of the threatening emails.”<br><br>
“We sympathize with the University of Pittsburgh community who have had
to deal with this frightening disruption for weeks. We oppose such
threatening actions. However, taking this server won’t stop these bomb
threats. The only effect it has is to also disrupt e-mail and websites
for thousands of unrelated people,” continues Mr. Theriot-Orr.
“Furthermore, the network of anonymous remailers that exists is not
harmed by taking this machine. So we cannot help but wonder why such
drastic action was taken when authorities knew that the server contained
no useful information that would help in their investigation.”<br><br>
The FBI purportedly seized the server because it was hosting an anonymous
remailer called Mixmaster. Anonymous remailers are used to send email
anonymously, or pseudonymously. Like other anonymizing services such as
the Tor network, these remailers are widely used to protect the identity
of human rights activists who place themselves and their families in
grave danger by reporting information about abuses. Remailers are also
important for corporate whistle blowers, democracy activists working
under repressive regimes, and others to communicate vital information
that would otherwise go un-reported.<br><br>
The Mixmaster software is specifically designed to make it impossible for
anyone to trace the emails. The system does not record logs of
connections, details of who sent messages, or how they were routed. This
is because the Mixmaster network is specifically designed to resist
censorship, and support privacy and anonymity. Unfortunately, some people
misuse the network. However, compared to the rate of legitimate use, the
abuse rate is very low. There is therefore no legitimate purpose for the
FBI to seize this server because they will not be able to obtain any
information about the sender. This is plainly extra-judicial punishment
and an attack on free speech and anonymity on the internet and serves as
a chilling effect on others providers of anonymous remailers or other
anonymous services.<br><br>
In absence of any other leads, the FBI needs to show that they are making
progress in this case, and this has meant seizing a server so they can
proudly demonstrate they are taking some action. But what this incident
shows is they are grasping at straws and are willing to destroy innocent
bystanders for the sake of protecting their careers.<br>
About the organizations involved¶<br><br>
MayFirst/People Link (mayfirst.org) is a politically-progressive
member-run and controlled organization that redefines the concept of
“Internet Service Provider” in a collective and collaborative way. May
First/People Link’s members are organizers and activists who elect a
Leadership Committee to direct the organization. Like a coop, members pay
dues, buy equipment and then share that equipment for websites, email,
email lists, and other Internet purposes.<br><br>
Riseup Networks (riseup.net) provides online communication tools for
people and groups working on liberatory social change. Riseup creates
democratic alternatives and practices self-determination by controlling
our own secure means of communications.<br><br>
ECN (European Counter Network – ecn.org) is the oldest independent
service provider in Europe providing free email accounts, mailing lists,
and websites to organizations, activists, and movements that are involved
in human rights, freedom of speech and information in Italy and Europe.
ECN is anti-fascist and works towards a just and equal society. Years
ago, before sites like Youtube and Vimeo existed, ECN created a platform
called NGV where people could upload and share independent video of human
rights violations. Nowadays ECN works primarily with anti-fascist and
anti-Nazi movements in all of Europe, providing space and resources to
political and social centers.<br>
Questions / further reading¶<br><br>
Q: Doesn’t Mixmaster/anonymous remailers enable criminals to do bad
things?<br><br>
A: Criminals can already do bad things. Since they’re willing to break
laws, they already have lots of options available that provide better
privacy than mixmaster provides. They can steal cell phones, use them,
and throw them in a ditch; they can crack into computers in Korea or
Brazil and use them to launch abusive activities; they can use spyware,
viruses, and other techniques to take control of literally millions of
Windows machines around the world.<br><br>
Mixmaster aims to provide protection for ordinary people who want to
follow the law. Only criminals have privacy right now, and we need to fix
that.<br><br>
Some advocates of anonymity explain that it’s just a tradeoff — accepting
the bad uses for the good ones — but there’s more to it than that.
Criminals and other bad people have the motivation to learn how to get
good anonymity, and many have the motivation to pay well to achieve it.
Being able to steal and reuse the identities of innocent victims
(identify theft) makes it even easier. Normal people, on the other hand,
don’t have the time or money to spend figuring out how to get privacy
online. This is the worst of all possible worlds.<br><br>
So yes, criminals could in theory use mixmaster, but they already have
better options, and it seems unlikely that taking mixmaster away from the
world will stop them from doing bad things. At the same time, mixmaster
and other privacy measures can fight identity theft, physical crimes like
stalking, and so on. Please see the tor FAQ on abuse for more
information.<br><br>
Q: How does Mixmaster / Anonymous remailers work?<br><br>
A: Anonymous remailers work by connecting to other anonymous remailers in
a chain, and every one in that chain removes the mail header information
making it impossible to find the real sender. The Tor project maintains a
list of typical users of this and other anonymity systems, and the
Mixmaster home page<br><br>
<br><br>
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