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ZLibrary domains have been seized by the United States Postal Inspection Service

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Re: ZLibrary domains have been seized by the United States Postal Inspection Service

#481

Post by bheadmaster »

noduerme wrote: post #461
bheadmaster wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One could just as easily argue that society exists to organize labor in a way that increases specialization and efficiency. The reduction of scarcity is just a side effect. If so, then what is the purpose of specialization and efficiency, if not for the reduction of scarcity, in terms of individual access to resources? If cooperation wasn't beneficial for the individual, nobody would cooperate (unless forced to do…

You're talking about distribution cost and ignoring the cost in time (and lost opportunity to do something else) to the writers or musicians. The price of a record was never just the cost of pressing the record. CDs cost pennies to burn; paper and digital printing by the late 20th century were extremely cheap. The wholesale and retail prices always included pay for the artist (along with a raft of agents and corporat…

Distribution costs are the reason why record labels earned so much money - it provided friction to piracy, since copying a vinyl was as expensive (if not more) than buying a new one. That friction is no longer there, and such a model cannot work anymore. Perhaps the age of "rock stars" collecting rent for years is simply over. Why should artists be rewarded indefinitely for just one piece of work? Perhaps the very expectations are inflated due to the previous golden age.

Artists should be rewarded for their work - but artificially limiting everyone's ability to share information is not the right way to do it. It would have severe consequences for the free society.

Another way must be found. I don't have any ideas, but I know that restriction of sharing information is not a good one.

Re: ZLibrary domains have been seized by the United States Postal Inspection Service

#482

Post by meltedcapacitor »

dghlsakjg wrote: post #217
sixtyfourbits wrote: post #48

Fortunately someone had the foresight to make a backup: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32972923 Z-library were in it for commercial gain (you could access a certain number of books but to get more you had to pay for a subscription). They started out as a fork of library genesis, whose mission has always been strictly non-commercial and about providing free access to everyone without limits. Hopefully this will…

I'm not so sure there was commercial intent. Their policy was basically around discouraging datahoarders and scrapers as far as I could tell. If I recall correctly, the limit was something like 10 e-books per day per ip address. Not really a huge limit when you consider that there was no limit on file size for things like graphic novels. They never required accounts, and the only thing locked behind a required donati…

They used various dark pattern marketing techniques to try and convince people to pay and make the site look like a legit library, so clearly some commercial intent even if it was always possible to download for free (maybe to provide some deniability?).

Re: ZLibrary domains have been seized by the United States Postal Inspection Service

#483

Post by bheadmaster »

beermonster wrote: post #267
zolland wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the difference between me waiting for a single book at my library to be passed between 5 people, and me just reading it online?

Presumably the library paid for their copy? [Edit] Also check out OverDrive / Libby

The library would've paid for the copy regardless of whether or not the person actually borrowed the book - the act of borrowing itself makes no difference.

Re: ZLibrary domains have been seized by the United States Postal Inspection Service

#484

Post by addminztrator »

An update: I tried accessing the IP address directly a while ago and the Department of Homeland security was displaying a copyright notice saying that copyright infringement is punishable by a fine up to $200,000. Currently, there is an FBI notice saying they had a warrant from a New York court.

Re: ZLibrary domains have been seized by the United States Postal Inspection Service

#485

Post by dghlsakjg »

meltedcapacitor wrote: post #482
dghlsakjg wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not so sure there was commercial intent. Their policy was basically around discouraging datahoarders and scrapers as far as I could tell. If I recall correctly, the limit was something like 10 e-books per day per ip address. Not really a huge limit when you consider that there was no limit on file size for things like graphic novels. They never required accounts, and the only thing locked behind a required donati…

They used various dark pattern marketing techniques to try and convince people to pay and make the site look like a legit library, so clearly some commercial intent even if it was always possible to download for free (maybe to provide some deniability?).

I disagree.

The only thing approaching a dark pattern is asking you to sign in for advanced features. A free account gets you a bunch of those features.

The main page has a single 'donate' link in the upper right corner. A contribution as low $1usd was enough to unlock all features except higher daily download limits.

What dark patterns did you see?

Re: ZLibrary domains have been seized by the United States Postal Inspection Service

#486

Post by bobbruno »

sixtyfourbits wrote: post #51
night-rider wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I want to purchase ebooks, but I want to own what I purchase! Without a DRM mechanism it can be easily shared on warez sites. They really don't want books easily disseminated DRM free on warez sites. Alongside this they can track what pages you read and even know how 'fast' you are at reading. Welcome to 1984.

https://gizmodo.com/amazon-secretly-removes-1984-from-the-ki...

That is the reason why I still have a cellar full of books and over 1000 CDs. I refuse to let someone else take control over the content I buy after I’ve bought it. I’d be happy to pay for digital content, but if it comes with DRM, it’s a non-negotiable “No, thank you sir.”

Re: ZLibrary domains have been seized by the United States Postal Inspection Service

#487

Post by tren »

tpxl wrote: post #289
tren wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We keep trying to push publishers to allow us to sell their ebooks DRM-free, it really is a win-win. Less customer support for us, more sales for them, no vendor lock-in for the customer. We offer completely DRM-free or watermarked content: https://www.ebooks.com/drm-free/ . I wish every publisher would embrace it.

Do you have any hard data on the benefits/drawbacks of DRM?

We wrote a short article about it here: https://about.ebooks.com/sales-jumped-54-when-this-publisher...

Re: ZLibrary domains have been seized by the United States Postal Inspection Service

#488

Post by bawolff »

1123581321 wrote: post #329
bawolff wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you break a book at the library, you usually have to pay for its replacement. Sure there is some normal wear and tear that isnt "breaking the book", but if you browse through your library you will find lots of books that were purchased 20-40 years ago that are still in good shape. I don't really think normal wear and tear is very significant.

Still, you now understand the publishers’ logic. The publisher doesn’t care who buys the replacement, only that they get some revenue from it. Libraries argue similarly that the wear-and-tear model is miscalibrated, but they are in a weak negotiating position.

I mean, from where i'm sitting the logic is "how can we extract as much revenue as possible", with the wear and tear argument being post hoc justification.

Re: ZLibrary domains have been seized by the United States Postal Inspection Service

#489

Post by ASalazarMX »

krisoft wrote: post #471
ASalazarMX wrote: post #425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A giant pyramid, they can last thousands of years even in our aggressive environment, much more in the weak Martian weather.

I love that. Should we dig in the Cydonia region on Mars? :) Perhaps at the D&M pyramid? https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/pia04745-the-cydonia-dm-pyra...

I'd start with the pyramid, but there's a risk of trying to dig up a regular mountain, which would be very wasteful. Maybe we should dig instead the Face of Mars after all, but who knows what other alien faces are there that we can't recognize? Let's dig everywhere!
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