FBI Seizes Web Servers, Knocking Sites Offline

The Federal Bureau of Investigation seized Web servers in a raid on a data center early June 21, causing several Web sites, including those run by the New York publisher Curbed Network, to go offline.

The raid happened at 1:15 a.m. at a hosting facility in Reston (VA) used by DigitalOne, which is based in Switzerland, the company said. The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the raid. In an e-mail to one of its clients, DigitalOne’s chief executive, Sergej Ostroumow, said: “This problem is caused by the F.B.I., not our company. In the night F.B.I. has taken 3 enclosures with equipment plugged into them, possibly including your server — we cannot check it.” Ostroumow said that the F.B.I. was only interested in one of the company’s clients but had taken servers used by “tens of clients.”