this post was submitted on 08 Feb 2026
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496
Dutch authorities allegedly seize VPN server without a warrant — company claims that law enforcement will return it after analyzing the device fully (www.tomshardware.com)
submitted 1 day ago by FundMECFS@anarchist.nexus to c/technology@lemmy.world
65 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

The authorities apparently got tired of asking and just went in themselves.

Canada-based Windscribe, a VPN provider, just said that one of its European servers has been allegedly seized by Dutch authorities without a warrant. According to the company’s post on X, law enforcement said that they will return it to the service provider after they “fully analyze it.” It’s unclear why law enforcement impounded just a single rack from Windscribe’s cabinet, but the VPN provider said that it only uses RAM disk servers, meaning anyone who would look through the installed SSDs would only find a stock Ubuntu install on it, so the servers shouldn't hold any trackable data.

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[–] DancingTable@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Should build the software so the second it loses internet connection, or its IP address changes, it clears the ram.

Cannot move a server without it losing internet, and even if they find a way around it, it’d still force an IP address change.

[–] CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The DevOps way is to have them die at regular intervals in addition to other triggers and then rebuild on a regular cadence. Iirc correctly Netflix servers have a 12 hour TTL. Windscribe could easily do a 1-2 hour TTL with matching certs and encryption keys.

[–] oftenawake@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 15 hours ago

Surely the servers aren't running on bare metal anyway? So wouldn't they just keep the virtual servers in ram and destroy them regularly to redeploy from an image? (I have no idea - I was a web dev 20 years ago!)

But it seems like when you have imaginary "computers" that can be regularly destroyed and rebuilt at little cost or hassle, there shouldn't be much point in trying to capture or examine the actual hardware because all it's doing is managing virtual machines existing in ram?

[–] BanMe@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Seems trivial to code in a beacon dependency and then embed that beacon in the walls or floor so the police would have to dismantle the entire building before being able to find it and take it along for the ride. Or heck a combination of beacons so the police don't know how many to look for.