Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

3lib.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 543 posts

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

#71

Post by lxgr »

night-rider wrote: post #21
idontwantthis wrote: post #7

Purchased ebooks are like ebooks except you can only read them in Adobe's shitty app, you can't share them with your kids, and you are guaranteed to lose access to them in 10 years or tomorrow. I want to purchase ebooks, but I want to own what I purchase!

> 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.

> Without a DRM mechanism it can be easily shared on warez sites.

DRM doesn't seem to be very good at preventing this either, though. The only thing it's really good at is making it harder for legitimate users to access their legally purchased media.

There is an inherent asymmetry to it: It only takes one sophisticated bad actor to break DRM and make a cracked book widely available, yet legitimate users not willing to break the law are suffering the inconveniences of error-prone, user-hostile systems.

I can even somewhat empathize with the idea of DRM for subscriptions or loans (otherwise there is really no incentive for users to continue paying, and durable access is not a concern either), but for outright purchased media, it really rubs me the wrong way to know that I can lose access to my stuff at any time.

It worked like this for music (Spotify and Apple Music have DRM, but iTunes and Amazon MP3/AAC purchases haven't, for example), and it's even working for eBooks in some countries: German language ePubs have been DRM free for some years now (although watermarked).

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

#72

Post by googlryas »

elil17 wrote: post #57
dfxm12 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a book (even an ebook) is in the library, it's already bought and paid for so the author gets whatever compensation they get as if it is a normal sale. I don't think arguing morals makes sense because of how subjective one's morals are, but, by using libraries, you are supporting the arts, whether you liked the book or not, and this is not a silly distinction.

If my local library already owns the book and it is not checked out, what is the difference between driving there to check it out and downloading it illegally online? The impact to the author is the same: absolutely nothing.

If 100 people all see it is not checked out and then download it, there would be no contention

If 100 people all try to check it out, there would be a huge waiting list and the library would try to order more copies.

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

#73

Post by notch656a »

bytm3 wrote: post #25

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service supports and protects the U.S. Postal Service and its customers by enforcing the laws that defend the nation’s mail system from illegal or dangerous use. What do they have to do with ebooks???

The federal government increasingly is finding interesting nooks and crannies to shove enforcement into. Customs and Border Protection is now larger than the FBI, and ICE which houses "homeland security investigations" is almost half their size. These, and other arms of government, are increasingly being used to clamp down on activity by citizens deep within US borders (such as the recent Portland riots).

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

#74

Post by ZoF »

elil17 wrote: post #57
dfxm12 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a book (even an ebook) is in the library, it's already bought and paid for so the author gets whatever compensation they get as if it is a normal sale. I don't think arguing morals makes sense because of how subjective one's morals are, but, by using libraries, you are supporting the arts, whether you liked the book or not, and this is not a silly distinction.

If my local library already owns the book and it is not checked out, what is the difference between driving there to check it out and downloading it illegally online? The impact to the author is the same: absolutely nothing.

It's nothing in isolation of your single act. Maybe. In aggregate it of course deprecates the library(they have e-checkouts already but you're talking untracked piracy). I like libraries; I think they're mostly performative in small towns and providing social services in cities rather than functioning as actual libraries. Kinda sad.

I pirate all my books btw, just saying if everyone did it ofc there'd be(already is) impact. Easily smartphones+kindle is worse though.

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

#75

Post by netr0ute »

friendlypeg wrote: post #50
collegeburner wrote: post #10

bookszlibb74ugqojhzhg2a63w5i2atv5bqarulgczawnbmsb6s6qead.onion still up on TOR. fuck them i aint paying for my textbooks. never had a book bill higher than $50 and not about to start now.

Am I the only one who believes the high textbook pricing are reasonable given the small consumer base?

I don't know, because Openstax charges $0 for an arguably smaller audience than that of higher priced options, so you can't get much lower than that.

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

#76

Post by bitxbitxbitcoin »

elil17 wrote: post #57
dfxm12 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a book (even an ebook) is in the library, it's already bought and paid for so the author gets whatever compensation they get as if it is a normal sale. I don't think arguing morals makes sense because of how subjective one's morals are, but, by using libraries, you are supporting the arts, whether you liked the book or not, and this is not a silly distinction.

If my local library already owns the book and it is not checked out, what is the difference between driving there to check it out and downloading it illegally online? The impact to the author is the same: absolutely nothing.

Arguably, the environmental impact of downloading it is less than driving to the library to check it out.

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

#77

Post by beanjuiceII »

bytm3 wrote: post #25

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service supports and protects the U.S. Postal Service and its customers by enforcing the laws that defend the nation’s mail system from illegal or dangerous use. What do they have to do with ebooks???

if they sent anything via mail, even once, then that's the justification

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

#79

Post by notch656a »

hodgesrm wrote: post #69
elil17 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If my local library already owns the book and it is not checked out, what is the difference between driving there to check it out and downloading it illegally online? The impact to the author is the same: absolutely nothing.

As the previous commenter has already said, the author has been paid already in the first case. That's a material difference.

It blows my mind that in a hypercapitalist society like the US, that copyrights still exist. Copyrights are a massive violation of property rights, criminalizing merely observing something and independently reproducing it with your own private materials for your own non-commercial use. IMO it shakes to the core free market, capitalist, and founding principles of our nation.

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

#80

Post by kazinator »

dfxm12 wrote: post #55
jrm4 wrote: post #22

As a lawyer, I can't recommend it, but I absolutely cannot discern any moral difference whatsoever between reading a library book for free and purchasing it later if I like it, and doing the same first thing by downloading the ebook from somewhere "unapproved." It's all very silly.

If a book (even an ebook) is in the library, it's already bought and paid for so the author gets whatever compensation they get as if it is a normal sale. I don't think arguing morals makes sense because of how subjective one's morals are, but, by using libraries, you are supporting the arts, whether you liked the book or not, and this is not a silly distinction.

> it's already bought and paid for

Three copies, for the a metropolis of several million. :)

Post reply on HN