Z-Library seized by the US Department of Justice

[Aglaea]

In case anyone did not know, why the website wasn't working anymore...

Article:

On Friday, November 4, domain names of Z-Library, the website which claimed to be the world's largest ebook library, were seized by the US Department of Justice.

For years, Z-Library has been a resource for university students and voracious readers alike, virtually offering approximately 10 million ebooks, academic texts, general-interest nonfiction books, and 86 million scholarly journal articles for free.

Some of the domains are now not loading, while others lead to a message saying, "This domain has been seized by the United States Postal Inspection Service in accordance with a court order".

Virtually anyone with an internet connection could easily download their books or articles of choice from the site for free. The website's function of allowing users to contribute to the vast virtual library system allowed readers to disseminate their knowledge and make literature more accessible around the world.

(...)

Booktok spearheads the movement
The Z-Library site was taken down after Booktokers began sharing the link publicly, especially for Colleen Hoover's latest novel, It Starts With Us (Atria Books, 2022).

A couple of viral TikToks about the novel being free for download on Z-Library spearheaded the #zlibrary hashtag to amass over 19 million views on Tiktok. The hashtag had been gaining popularity for a while, but more and more authors recently started noticing the dire effects of their novels being circulated online.

This is why it's so important to not share certain info on social media and other platforms!!! A tweet or tiktok about a site could blow up and get massive views, leading to authorities to look into the site and ultimately pull it from the internet. Stupid people (yes, my opinion they were) were literally showing on there how to access and download popular books while tagging said authors and books in their tiktoks as well! That website has been online for years and it was only until this tiktok popularity that things went bad.

Years ago, I remember seeing a member's (here) GR and they had books tagged with this Dpgroup name along with other sites like ours. I never understood why anyone would do that and risk this site. Especially when authors and publishers are on Goodreads and can see the shelves!

So, sharing this for information but also to hopefully warn people to be careful about when and where they share websites, especially if you want them to stick around for a long time!

[abbylynn]

I was wondering what happen!! Now I know!! Social Media is good for some things but not for others! Let's hope that doesn't happen to us!! I would go crazy without this SITE!!
Take Care Everyone & Stay Safe!!!

[Aglaea]

Yeah, it's a shame.

I actually feel bad for the people that used it for their schooling and research - especially in poorer countries with little access to the actual books (in libraries or to purchase). So many students in other countries were using it for textbooks, research materials (had so many science articles for example, often that you'd normally have to buy to even read) and other things. There were also countries that censor certain books (fiction and non-fiction) and that was a way they could get access to them.

I mean, I just use it for fun, it'd be worse if I actually used and needed it to continue my education or whatever else! And while there are other sites, that was an easy thing for people to use and access. And I am not sure if they can access the other sites in their counties, etc. And many are just clueless of the other resources out there.

I don't know who started the first tiktok, but I did see some here and there with that tag doing what I described in the first post. I am sure there were others sharing the site to warn about it and alert authors as well. But I wonder if they only knew about it after seeing the other tiktoks promoting it.

I am worried about other sites though! I checked a few recent tiktoks and in the comments people are asking for alternative sites and trying to spread others around! Do they not learn their lesson?!!!!!! I think Mobi would be more at risk than us, but you never know. I hope this blows over soon.

[byzance]

i think mobi is in ukraine,if so they safe

[mejin]

Dear Z-Librarian,
The Z-Library services are currently unavailable due to a server block by one of our hosting providers. We are doing our best to get back to work as soon as possible.
For all users with an active premium status, we will extend it for the duration of the suspension plus 14 days.
Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience and thanks for your patience! We'll notify you by email as soon as Z-Library is back up and running.
Z-Library Team

Just saw this on reedit ... well...

[Aglaea]

Dear Z-Librarian,
The Z-Library services are currently unavailable due to a server block by one of our hosting providers. We are doing our best to get back to work as soon as possible.
For all users with an active premium status, we will extend it for the duration of the suspension plus 14 days.
Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience and thanks for your patience! We'll notify you by email as soon as Z-Library is back up and running.
Z-Library Team

Just saw this on reedit ... well...

I hope they can resurrect it!

They need to put the servers in a county that can't be bothered with piracy laws, like Sweden or others.

They have 200+ TB or more of data/books so it's one of the largest digital libraries out there. THE US DOJ didn't delete all that data, but they did basically delete their domains and ability to work properly.

I saw it only accessible using TOR browser and you have to log-in (which I did not do, not sure how safe it would be to do so right now).

I will wait and see.

But my comment re: being careful about what is said about sites on social media still stands. With authors, publishers and such paying more attention to things, you never know who will see things.

[shimmer418]

Z-Lib is still functioning under their TOR site, and on telegram. Like Hydra, every time they remove the Z-lib bot, its resurrected all over again. I do know, that this site is amazing, and because of that i don't share it with others. I also know, i'm going to be donating in the next week or two. I've been a member for a very long time, and i need to do more for everything the site has given me.

Thanks to the Mods and admins for keeping us reading.

[Zontomaatje]

Anna's Archive covers the entire zlib collection