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I guess in 2022 "don't ever travel to countries that have extradition agreements with US" should've already been #0 opsec rule, above everything else. Sad for them. Does anyone know if Z-library provided torrent dumps?
As Russian nationals, their choices are rather limited at this time.
I know this won't be a popular take on HN, but while I can understand and to a certain extent sympathize with pirating movies (the intentional friction and arbitrary geographic limitations on access imposed by the multinational movie-industry conglomerates), I can't see stealing some poor author's work in the same light. Sure, people get hung-up about DRM (which can easily be removed by widely-accessible tools), but…
> As alleged, the defendants profited illegally off work they stole How did they profit? If they even admitted that > Defendants Operated Z-Library, Which Offered Free Download of Copyrighted Works This is a complete nonsense
Your outrage is misplaced, these are not the pirates freeing books, these are parasites making money off of the pirates' work.
Z-library was not about freeing books, they where pirating for profit. The free account was limited in downloads and they had 2 tiers of premium accounts, don't remember the sums or details. They where profiting on the works of others too, they did not rip the books themselves or anything like that.
They throttled it, sure … but that wasn’t really a rate in which you’d run into unless you’re just downloading everything. Which you still could just by cycling your ip.
You also didn’t need an account unless you wanted to send the book directly to your Kindle. You’re all around just misinformed on the topic
IIRC Z-library is a LibGen mirror that is faster than other mirrors but is also much more monetized with more ads, limited free downloads, and premium plans. Something else weird about this story is why did they move to a country that has an extradition agreement with the US? There are plenty of countries that would ignore US pressure to arrest them.
I know this won't be a popular take on HN, but while I can understand and to a certain extent sympathize with pirating movies (the intentional friction and arbitrary geographic limitations on access imposed by the multinational movie-industry conglomerates), I can't see stealing some poor author's work in the same light. Sure, people get hung-up about DRM (which can easily be removed by widely-accessible tools), but…
Even if that were true today, it's a cat-and-mouse game and it may not always be true.
I don't know if FairPlay DRM that Apple uses or Adobe's DRM has been thoroughly cracked, but last time I checked, Amazon's KFX hasn't truly been cracked yet. The best I've seen are workarounds to get Amazon to deliver the book in an older format that has been cracked, but then you lose the typography improvements that are tied to the new format.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Imagine the person who cannot afford a book or paper on a particular topic. Should they not have access to the information? Imagine I want whatever you do for a living? Should you work for me for free?
That analogy doesn’t work when the marginal cost to do that work is literally zero, in fact he wouldn’t even know he’s performing the “work”
Now there's a lot of open source software, and a lot of open access publications and free books out there, as well as systems in place -- we call them "libraries" -- by which taxpayers purchase works on behalf of the public and make them available in limited quantities for no charge. And here I need to reiterate the bane of badly construed interventions is trying to control prices rather than adjusting incomes. Stop messing with prices. The way we help the poor is with income support, not by creating a parallel price system for the poor.
I know this won't be a popular take on HN, but while I can understand and to a certain extent sympathize with pirating movies (the intentional friction and arbitrary geographic limitations on access imposed by the multinational movie-industry conglomerates), I can't see stealing some poor author's work in the same light. Sure, people get hung-up about DRM (which can easily be removed by widely-accessible tools), but…
It's human culture. The idea that it should be the sole provenance of rich multi-nationals to decide who can afford to read is disgusting. It should all be freely accessible. Removing money from the equation would also solve other quality issues.
IIRC Z-library is a LibGen mirror that is faster than other mirrors but is also much more monetized with more ads, limited free downloads, and premium plans. Something else weird about this story is why did they move to a country that has an extradition agreement with the US? There are plenty of countries that would ignore US pressure to arrest them.
the move might've had something to do with mobilization in russia, though I'm just guessing
Earlier quoted context omitted.
As Russian nationals, their choices are rather limited at this time.
No? The countries that don't have extradition agreements with the US overlap a lot with countries that have friendly relations with Russia. China, Cuba, and Russia would be the ideal choices if you're on the run from US authorities.
(this is specific to Z-library)
Russia is out. Some books on the platform directly contradicts government ideals, and it seems that the operators aren't willing to filter it out.
China might be a safe case, but recently they have cared for IP (at least for literary things, industrial processes are another matter) because they have multiple industries that China saw as beneficial (both audiovisual and literacy, including comics) so they could evade US authorities but might get sentenced by Chinese authorities anyway.
I don't know enough about Cuba to comment.