I wonder if monetization was the only easy way to prevent abuse from the greedy hyper-thieves. Most people who used Z-Library weren't going to buy the books anyway.
The library allowed the hungry to learn while giving the greedy some difficulty. I liked their system. I'm not proud to condone stealing but, in my opinion, people were only stealing from the greedy or the teachers at heart, and the teachers at heart would've given away some of their books for free anyway.
Z-library founders arrested in Argentina
391–400 of 498 posts
Re: Z-library founders arrested in Argentina
#392Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
> 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 th…
> 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.
Any source on this specific claim (ie. not Russian censorship writ large)? I get that Russia is unpopular right now, but is this just conjecture?
Re: Z-library founders arrested in Argentina
#393Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Argentina on the first glance would look “safe” to me, as South American nations seem in general not very pro-US. Live and learn, I guess. TIL that all South American countries have these extradition agreements. I feel bad for the arrested; even if their values were not pristine. Punishments for these kind of “offences” seem extremely harsh to me, being grown in a copyright-unaware climate.
I would not trust anywhere in Latin or South America outside of Venezuela or Cuba.
Re: Z-library founders arrested in Argentina
#394I 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?
Extradition agreements are irrelevant when extraordinary rendition is a legal and valid option.
They're not going to extraordinary rendition over a piracy claim.
Re: Z-library founders arrested in Argentina
#395Earlier quoted context omitted.
True but that includes powerful men in the political sphere such as Biden and Trump. No way the Justice Department is going to touch this, when it implicates their bosses and potential bosses.
How is Biden tied to Epstein? I must have missed that one.
Bill Clinton had ties, I don't know of any with Biden.
Re: Z-library founders arrested in Argentina
#396Earlier quoted context omitted.
the US does not subsidise other countries, not to the degree that you think anyways. It’s also not a matter of spending more money. The US spends a lot more per capita on healthcare than everyone else, so money is not the issue.
It may not be direct subsidiaries but I'd be willing to wager a pretty penny that there are a lot of European countries that feel comfortable with spending little on defense and aren't worrying about Russia because they know the US has their back. Not to mention keeping Taiwan from being brought under the CCP umbrella, the efforts the US Navy puts into preventing and reducing piracy. In fact most of the world that do…
The pledge - which wasn’t signed was for 2% - nobody is afraid of Russia at this point and Poland alone could very well handle any Russian army if this war is any indication.
Of what the US spends on NATO, very little goes to smaller nations. In exchange, the US has legal bases and troops deployed in other countries without fear of retaliation, do you grasp how much power the US gets to project through this? Probably not.
US keeps Taiwan because it benefits them, and because it needs the semiconductors.
Nothing is free.
When you lot decided to invade Middle East for oil yet again for the 4th or 5th time, you also triggered article 5 and foreigners died as a consequence of your own greed, your unchecked black ops, and CIA funding terrorists.
Furthermore, this “alliance” means that people are spending money on US military hardware, not anyone else’s, but this is conveniently out of the discussion every time such complaints come up.
Less than 20% of what the US spends on NATO is used to assist smaller countries, and the US only covers 16% of operational costs of NATO - which is as much Germany is covering.
Legal boots on the ground next to any front trumps any and all economic arguments.
Re: Z-library founders arrested in Argentina
#397Earlier quoted context omitted.
This would run counter to the "starve the beast"[1] strategy that's formed the core of conservative governance in the US for the last 50 years. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starve_the_beast
If you believe in small government then you're going to enact policies that accomplish this. Re-branding this as "starve the beast" seems nothing more than a propaganda exercise. Further.. almost every business employing people in a State must be setup with that State's authorities. Is there some reason States can't handle wage theft? Is this naturally a federal problem, or even best solved at that level?
> Re-branding this as "starve the beast" seems nothing more than a propaganda exercise.
I disagree, having to dance around a phrase coined by those that implemented the strategy themselves, otherwise some people will get offended, is the definition of political correctness.
Re: Z-library founders arrested in Argentina
#398Earlier quoted context omitted.
If I can access a book for free at a library. Why can't I read it online for free? Ultimately the answer will be about rights and really suggesting the author can put arbitrary restrictions in content that's been purchased. Those restrictions exist for financial reasons not moral. As such this is not theft in any ethical sense but a quirk of the laws. A law apparently many people disagree with...
Careful. They'll come for the libraries next.
It's already happening:
https://www.npr.org/2022/11/09/1135639385/libraries-publishe...>
Re: Z-library founders arrested in Argentina
#399Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have family that works for DOL's Wage & Hour division. The amount of wage theft is _staggering_. They are chronically understaffed and overworked. Plus, every time a Republican administration comes into power, their enforcement power gets severely limited, except in the most egregious cases.
When people get paid more, the government gets more tax revenue. Smart government would double this division's resources, but governments are anything but smart.
That depends whether the government works for the people paying taxes or the people stealing wages.
Re: Z-library founders arrested in Argentina
#400A small thought experiment: - Book sales in 2021 were about _9_ billion dollars. [0] - Wage theft in the US is estimated at _50_ billion dollars. [1] Can you imagine if the resources of the justice and labour departments would prioritize citizen wage over publishers' revenue? Would you rather have funds allocated towards social justice or have them spent on intimidating foreign nationals completely outside US jurisdi…
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