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Z-Library Blog: "Unprecedented seizure of our domains with books on rare languages" (z-library.se)

submitted 7 months ago by ancuuiqter@lemmy.world to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

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Today we are forced to share some sad news - yesterday many of our domains were seized again. We should highlight that the majority of the seized domains were not mirrors of the Z-Library website. Instead, they were separate sub-projects, containing only books in rare languages of the world, and their blocking is perplexing. For instance, these domains included books in Tamil, Mongolian, Catalan, Urdu, Pashto, and other languages:

afrikaans-books.org

bengali-books.org

urdu-books.org

marathi-books.org

chamorro-books.org

Over the 15 years of the project's existence, we've managed to collect an impressive collection of rare texts in many uncommon languages. These domains featured many unique texts that can't be found anywhere else, including rare books, documents, and manuscripts. All of this is a priceless heritage, contributing to the preservation and study of world cultures, and serving as important material for researchers in linguistics, anthropology, and history.

Z-Library also states in the blog post that they did not lose the files, just the domains.

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[-] OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml 272 points 7 months ago

Imagine working on taking Z library down as your day job and still sleeping at night. Scum of the earth.

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[-] filister@lemmy.world 103 points 7 months ago

This eerily reminds of books burning.

[-] ashok36@lemmy.world 40 points 7 months ago

It's more like if a landlord canceled the leases on a bunch of properties that a chain of privately owned libraries was renting.

"keep your books but you can't keep them here" in a way.

[-] amio@kbin.social 24 points 7 months ago

Well, the files are intact, it's "just" registrar douchiness. Not that that makes it good, by any stretch, but it's not all Alexandria either

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[-] danielquinn@lemmy.ca 47 points 7 months ago

Given that domain seizure is becoming such a common tool for this sort of thing, maybe we need a work around for DNS?

For example, we could distribute z-library name/IP pairs in the form of a hosts file via torrents and then write little wrapper programs for each OS that would just crawl the DHT for the latest version to update your local hosts file.

A more extreme option would be to build a pirate browser that has a bunch of name/IP pairs baked into it. People could just launch the browser and visit websites as usual without DNS being an issue.

I'm aware that using Tor is also an option, but there's a bunch of problems there with usability like installation and setup (for non-technical people). Onion URLs aren't easily discoverable either, and much of what you find in there just kids cosplaying as digital freedom fighters posting links that load really slowly... at least that was my experience the last time I tried out a TOR browser.

[-] TCB13@lemmy.world 18 points 7 months ago

They can just do it like LibGen and post alternative domains and IPs on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_Genesis

[-] lukas@lemmy.haigner.me 11 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

What you're looking for is an alternative DNS root. Although I despise the blockchain, crypo and web3 world with every fiber of my being due to the entire scam ecosystem built into everything, decentralized DNS could be one of the only legit applications of blockchains as a technology. No court can order blockchains to take down domains, much like how no court can order Bitcoin to reverse transactions. You don't have the private key to change the domain? Too bad, fuck off.

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[-] alvvayson@lemmy.world 8 points 7 months ago

The best solution I can think of is to have something like Tor.taxi

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[-] RestrictedAccount@lemmy.world 22 points 7 months ago

I am sorry. But who is doing this and why?

[-] lemmyvore@feddit.nl 31 points 7 months ago

.org/.net/.com domains are American so my guess is the same as the post author's – USA and the FBI. But they don't have a clue either why these specific domains were targeted. On the other hand, with the mess that is the DMCA and with copyright interests in the US being controlled by corporations it's not hard to imagine .org domains being blocked on a whim.

[-] s38b35M5@lemmy.world 25 points 7 months ago

https://torrentfreak.com/fbi-austrias-c4-hit-z-library-with-a-massive-new-wave-of-domain-seizures-231108/

tl;dr - USA and Austria

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[-] echo64@lemmy.world 14 points 7 months ago

I couldn't find anything, just clicking around. Does z library not have a mechanism for others to make backups of its data? It looks like generally there are lots of limits around downloading, which makes sense. Most people need a handful of books. But without full data backups spread around multiple data hoarding nerds systems globally. When the inevitable day comes that the whole thing gets shut down they'll be nothing to bring back

[-] stifle867@programming.dev 11 points 7 months ago

https://annas-archive.org/torrents

[-] qyron@sopuli.xyz 12 points 7 months ago

Wouldn't it be possible to move the entire library into the dark web and leave just a few snorkels behind?

Or move it to a model similar to zeronet?

[-] hi_its_me@lemmy.world 20 points 7 months ago

I believe it is already on Tor. But not everyone knows how to use tor, so they also have traditional domains.

[-] deepdive@lemmy.world 11 points 7 months ago

They also have an I2P address. More secure than Tor, because alot of the end nodes are controlled by government and private institutions.

[-] MigratingtoLemmy@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago

Oh, this is a great reason to use I2P!

I really wish torrenting would move to I2P too!

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[-] TimewornTraveler@lemm.ee 11 points 7 months ago

I didn't know Zlibrary was still up. I got too confused when they went down and was never sure how to get back in. Ended up paying pocket for the remainder of my textbooks.

[-] TarquinNimrod@sh.itjust.works 7 points 7 months ago

With the Z-Lib app (v1.10.1(17) atm) you can get 10 daily downloads without signing up.

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[-] 01011@monero.town 10 points 7 months ago

Did torrents become extinct? Or even something like ipfs?

[-] stifle867@programming.dev 23 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

You can find torrents here if you're willing to seed 181TB for the full dataset, or 43TB for just zlibrary https://annas-archive.org/torrents

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[-] vithigar@lemmy.ca 23 points 7 months ago

Torrents aren't a great option for a niche thing that doesn't have a wide audience.

[-] 520@kbin.social 12 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Torrents suck for things that aren't all that popular. Once the last seeder stops seeding, that torrent is useless.

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[-] Blacksheep@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 7 months ago

Is it still possible to get personal domains working? I know they had them before but not sure if they still do

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this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2023

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