Live data from Hacker News

FBI seizes riseup.net server

help.riseup.net

31–40 of 111 posts

Re: FBI seizes riseup.net server

#31

From a forensic evidence perspective, can an image or a drive clone suffice? And does anyone know what was this about, e-mail threat to do ... ?

The warrant was (according to riseup) related to the recent rash of bomb threats against the University of Pittsburgh.

https://www.google.com/search?q=university+pittsburgh+bomb+t...

Re: FBI seizes riseup.net server

#32
post #15

The building I work in and practically live in as student was evacuated two hours ago due to a bomb threat, and as of today 11 bomb threats have been made across campus. The total of bomb threats made is now 126. It is ridiculous. I do not agree with the FBI confiscating servers to figure out where the anonymous bomb threats have been coming from, but I'm kind of glad they are and feel bad for that.

When did these bomb threats happen? At the end of term or beginning? During exam week? When a famous politican is visiting?

126 is alot. I bet if you were to investigate the timing of these threats you might find some interesting correlations...

Re: FBI seizes riseup.net server

#33
post #18
post #15

The building I work in and practically live in as student was evacuated two hours ago due to a bomb threat, and as of today 11 bomb threats have been made across campus. The total of bomb threats made is now 126. It is ridiculous. I do not agree with the FBI confiscating servers to figure out where the anonymous bomb threats have been coming from, but I'm kind of glad they are and feel bad for that.

When was the last time a bomb threat was followed up with an actual bomb in the US? Maybe it's time to stop blindly evacuating buildings in response to anonymous messages.

I can imagine an awful fallout if a bomb went off, people died, and then later it was revealed that there was prior warning. Better safe than sorry works here, I think.

Re: FBI seizes riseup.net server

#36
post #13

This seems like a no-brainer to me. The FBI has the duty to find the Pitt bomb threatener. Perhaps Mixmaster truly does make the email untraceable, but it's the FBI's duty to try tracing it - not to take the Mixmaster claims as fact. If the FBI has evidence that criminal emails passed through that server, I absolutely want the FBI to be able to obtain and execute a warrant to seize it and search it for evidence. Anal…

Criminals (and worse) use all sorts of things, including technology, that everyone else uses. By your logic, the FBI should execute seizure warnings against GMail, Yahoo mail and Facebook... every time they have "evidence that criminal emails passed through that server." Frankly, your logic makes no practical sense.

Further, Public Enemy Number 1 (Bin Laden) purportedly used basically no direct network technology to disseminate his bidding he used a sneakernet to get info to various folks.

EDIT:

Obviously the person down voting me is not aware of how Bin Laden used USB sticks...

http://news.techworld.com/security/3279773/bin-laden-used-us...

Re: FBI seizes riseup.net server

#37

This is a testament to why you would want to use AWS virtual instances and never have "a server" - point your domain at a new instance should one machine get ordered off by the FBI.

Wow, you place an awful lot of faith in amazon.

Not really actually, I just mean having a discrete server that can be "seized" is not a particularly robust solution.

Re: FBI seizes riseup.net server

#38
post #18
post #15

The building I work in and practically live in as student was evacuated two hours ago due to a bomb threat, and as of today 11 bomb threats have been made across campus. The total of bomb threats made is now 126. It is ridiculous. I do not agree with the FBI confiscating servers to figure out where the anonymous bomb threats have been coming from, but I'm kind of glad they are and feel bad for that.

When was the last time a bomb threat was followed up with an actual bomb in the US? Maybe it's time to stop blindly evacuating buildings in response to anonymous messages.

1996: Pipe bomb at the olympics in Atlanta http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_Olympic_Park_bombing

But really, what you're complaining about is CYA (cover your ass) security. It's a lot easier for the person in charge to decide to clear out the building, and answer to a bit of grumbling with "just doing my job to keep you people safe" than it is to deal with the (extremely unlikely) fallout that would come from ignoring a real bomb.

Re: FBI seizes riseup.net server

#39
> "In total, over 300 email accounts, between 50-80 email lists, and several other websites have been taken off the Internet by this action."

Dramatic description aside, I really hope that what they mean is - lost one copy of it, waiting for DNS change to propagate... Am I hoping for too much?

Re: FBI seizes riseup.net server

#40
post #14

So if riseup.net had been hosted on, say, EC2, what would the FBI have seized? The server hosting the VM and many other completely unrelated VMs? Scary thought. Also, if you haven't done so already I encourage you to read the FAQ at the end of the page. It has one of the best answers to "Doesn’t Mixmaster/anonymous remailers enable criminals to do bad things?" I've ever seen.

Is there a law enforcement backdoor in Amazon TOS?
Post reply on HN