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'The seizure of Z-Library was the latest episode in an ongoing tussle between shadow libraries and state authorities. In 2015, when the academic publishing giant Elsevier took LibGen and Sci-Hub to court in the US, the sites were found to be in breach of copyright regulations and ordered to pay $15 million in damages (they didn’t). In 2020, Elsevier teamed up with Wiley and the American Chemical Society to sue the sites again, this time in Delhi; the case is ongoing, but seems likely to go the publishers’ way. Yet shadow libraries remain effectively impossible to prosecute, let alone abolish'
https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2022/december/in-the-shadow-library
@cyrilpedia Spot on: "It is likely that even in rich, well-resourced countries, most readers are not making a choice between paying for a source and downloading it illegally, but between downloading it illegally or not accessing it at all."
The idea that "illegal" downloading of books and music depresses sales has been debunked so many times, in so many ways, and data shows it even boosts sales, yet the gatekeepers continue at it–and law firms are of course happy to take their money.