A new project has just launched with the goal of preserving all human knowledge. The problem? It’s illegal.
The Pirate Library Mirror is what it says on the tin: a mirror of existing libraries of pirated content. The project focuses specifically on books — although this may be expanded in the future.
The project’s first goal is mirroring Z-Library, an illegal repository of journal articles, academic texts, and general-interest books. The site enforces a free download limit — 10 free books a day — and then charges users when they go above this.
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Z-Library originally branched off another site serving illegal books, Library Genesis. The former began its life by taking the latter site’s data, but making it easier to search. Since then, the people running Z-Library have built a collection that includes many books not available on its predecessor.
This is important because, while Library Genesis is easily mirrorable, Z-Library is not — and that’s where the Pirate Library Mirror comes in.
Those behind the new project cross-referenced Z-Library with Library Genesis, keeping what was only on the former, as that hasn’t been backed up.
This amounts to over 7TB of books, articles, and journals.
Now, your question here may be: why doesn’t anyone upload the books that are only available on Z-Library to Library Genesis to ensure nothing is lost? Well, that’s easier said than done.
Library Genesis has high quality standards and splits its “collection between non-fiction and fiction.” Long story short, transferring the missing books from Z-Library to Library Genesis requires a lot of work — and there aren’t enough available volunteers.
The Pirate Library Mirror has taken a more straightforward approach preserving this knowledge: bundle all the books, journals, and articles across multiple torrents.
Z-Library has already been blocked in multiple countries and it’s well within the realms of possibility that it’ll eventually get taken down, and all those books will simply cease to be online.
While the goal of the Pirate Library Mirror is admirable, we also need to consider the potential damage services like Z-Library do.
Piracy or preservation?
It’s hard to argue that access to knowledge isn’t of fundamental importance. Alongside this, many academic journals are too expensive for the majority of people to afford. I understand why it’s vital that information is accessible, yet piracy does have a large impact.
If too many people take the work of writers, researchers, and scientists for free, then none of those individuals get paid. And if none of them are earning, then the creation of said materials dries up.
Of course, this is a simplified look at piracy. There’s ample evidence that those who illegally download also tend to spend the most on media. And this says nothing of autodidacts who end up in the industries they’re studying, or people who access materials when young and invest later.
In other words, it’s a complex topic fraught with difficulties.
Thankfully, what (sort of) separates the Pirate Library Mirror is that it’s not meant to be a searchable index. Yes, the first torrent contains a list of all the files that you can technically use to do so, but it’s not easy.
Really, the focus of the project is preservation, not easy access.
If you’d like to research and potentially support the Pirate Library Mirror, you can do so over here.
Some quick notes though. Firstly — and this goes without saying — it’s illegal. Secondly, you have to access the torrents through TOR. And thirdly, there has been no virus scan done on the files inside the torrents. Get involved at your own risk.
Despite all this, I love projects like the Pirate Library Mirror. There’s something delightfully reminiscent of the old school internet in a project whose goal is so altruistic. It’s not here to make money or gain clout, it just wants to ensure that human knowledge is savored and saved.
And, friends, that is just delightful.