Photo credit: dolldreamer
by Debbie Burke
Book piracy is a widespread, growing problem that cuts into authors’ already-dwindling incomes. Back in 2020, I wrote about book piracy.
In a recent ironic twist, an ebook piracy site was hacked, per a July, 2024 Scamicide post by attorney Steve Weisman.
Yup, the pirates got pirated.
The site itself Z-Lib didn’t suffer as much as the 10 million users of the site who had their information stolen. Steve’s post reports the theft of:
…usernames, email addresses and passwords, the stolen data also included Bitcoin and Monero cryptocurrency wallet addresses for the nearly ten million people affected.
Z-Library was a major site funded by donations that offered free access to copyrighted works including pirated material. In 2022, the FBI temporarily shut down Z-Library.
According to blog.acer.com:
Z-Library, the shadow library project that provided access to millions of textbooks, novels, journal articles, and magazines was shut down in November 2022 when U.S. authorities seized a number of the organization’s domain names. Despite the efforts of law enforcement, the project never fully went away. Z-Lib even staged an official comeback in early 2023 by working around the previous domain name issues. However, the project has been disrupted again by further FBI domain seizures.
In other words, if law enforcement seizes pirate domain names, just register new domain names and go underground on the dark web.
Are Z-Library, Z-Lib, and its clones legal?
In this article, DOIT Software says:
It is illegal in many jurisdictions since it offers pirated content and violates copyright regulations. Users are encouraged to consider the ethical implications of accessing content from platforms like Z-Library, which often involves the distribution of copyrighted materials without proper authorization.
The clone site Z-Lib charged to access its shadow library, meaning users entered their personal and financial information. That valuable cache of info made a tempting target for other thieves who hacked in and stole it.
That raises an interesting philosophical discussion: If thieves steal from other thieves, is it a crime? Or poetic justice?
Are there degrees of guilt? How would you rank these perpetrators?
- Pirate sites that steal copyrighted works from authors;
- Users who pay pirate sites;
- Hackers that stole from the pirate site and its users?
TKZers, the floor is yours.
I’m traveling today and won’t be able to respond to comments until later.
Certainly an interesting twist in a difficult situation. Thanks for the update.
Betty
Thanks for stopping by, Betty!
My take: people who use pirate sites for free books are stealing and deserve whatever befalls them.
On a personal level, I ignore pirate sites. It’s like playing whack-a-mole, and the people who might find my books there aren’t going to be buying them anyway, so I’m not losing sales.
Terry, I agree that thieves are not book buyers but thieves. Let the thief beware.
I admit I simply try not to think about it. Or I try to find a sliver of positivity. Maybe the person who reads the pirated novel will like it enough to buy other books through legitimate venues in the future . . . . There’s not enough time in the day or resources to “fix” this problem. So I write and stick my head in the sand. I’d say the people who read pirated material are the worst offenders because they create the “market” for it, but I’m sure that’s the rationale drug dealers use when they say they’re simply providing a service that people want.
Kelly, for most writers, it’s not worth the time and effort to play whack-a-mole. Better to use that energy to write more books.
Good analogy with drug users and dealers.
Piracy is wrong, and those that buy stolen books are as at fault as those who steal them, as are the hackers who stole from them. I’ll admit there’s a certain cosmic justice feeling from the latter, but it’s all wrong. Just say no to piracy, and yes instead to libraries, where you can borrow books for free.
Dale, I had to smile when thieves got what they deserve. Great point about libraries. If someone truly can’t afford books, that’s the perfect option.
Wow, Debbie!
Some people work way harder than I do. It looks to me like it’s more time consuming and more stressful to learn thieving than to learn honesty and integrity.
I think it doesn’t matter who you steal from, it’s still a crime. The interesting scenario to me would be: if I’m selling stolen goods on the street, and I get stolen from, who will I report the theft to?
🙂
I agree, Deb. Stealing is stealing is stealing.
Pirate sites are deliberately ripe with viruses for its crooked users. This is just another bit of irony which also hits the site itself. Pardon me while I laugh manically.
Bwah-hah-hah-hah, Marilynn!
Pirate sites getting their just desserts. Love it!
Yup, Sue! Poetic justice.
Three losers.
Ohh you bought the $400 textbook for $35. Chapters 7-35 are in Russian, but it was cheap.
I sold a badly scanned PDF for $35. Cost me under a penny. See my fleet of cars? What do you mean, “Seized by the FBI”?
Thieves should have not used that full of holes WordPress plugin. See MY fleet of cars?
But chances are the pirates aren’t going to jail and neither are the hackers.
Alan, that’s the real frustration–a few “seized” domain names won’t stop the problem and I doubt anyone does jail time.