Tech giants AT&T and Verizon sparked the raids, complaining that some of their customers were delinquent on bills. Tech companies Crydon Technology and Core IP Networks got hit.
The FBI’s action has sparked outrage from the companies raided and the customers who lost service because of it. The accusations levied at the FBI range from simple overkill — the agency tried to solve a problem that could have been resolved in a civil court — to the more serious charge that they collected equipment from many other businesses not involved in the complaint. The FBI has disputed all charges.
Adult online guru Brandon "Fight The Patent" told XBIZ that he saw one of his clients get all of his computers taken away by the Federal Trade Commission.
"The real issue here is all the innocent businesses who lost their servers due to the FBI not understanding about hosting and collocation,” he said. “The question is whether or not those companies would be able to sue the FBI for loss of business."
Should adult be worried? Possibly. Brandon speculated that if the federal government should decide to raid a server farm that hosts an offending tube site, a lot of other harmless adult sites might get swept up in a similar way.
Crydon Technology Owner Mike Faulkner said that the FBI seized about 220 servers, along with routers and other equipment, and on top of that, he said the FBI also raided his home, where they took eight iPods (some of which belonged to his children), a PS3, five Xbox systems and a Wii console.
The other company, Core IP Networks, reported that about 50 of its customers lost access to emails and VOIP phone service, meaning that they couldn't have called 911 if they needed to.
"If you run a data center, please be aware that in our great country, the FBI can come into your place of business at any time and take whatever they want, with no reason," CEO Mike Simpson said.