Tor domain remains online after Feds seize Z-Library websites

Z-Library is a famous online e-book repository used by students, bookworms, and academics. The site offered thousands of downloadable, pirated books for free. Reportedly, the internet domains of Z-Library were seized by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) last week.

Seizure Details

The US DoJ took down Z-Library in compliance with piracy laws since it was a platform that offered pirated e-books and proved a suitable alternative to expensive originals. The seizure occurred on Friday, after which the site went dark.

It is worth noting that the Z-Library site and its numerous domains and servers, including z-lib.org, b-ok.org, and 3lib.net, were all seized on Friday morning. The website displayed the following notice after it became inaccessible:

One of the Z-Library websites (Image: Hackread.com)

Tor Domain for Z-Library is Still Accessible

Although the clearnet domains for Z-Library have been seized and taken offline, it seems that the site is still accessible via the Tor network. As checked by Hackread.com, the .Onion domain (or the “dark web” domain) is still up and running. However, the Tor domain does acknowledge having server issues.

This is good news for users who value their privacy, as they can still access the site without having to worry about their identity being revealed. However, it is worth noting that the content on Z-Library may be of questionable legality, so use it at your own risk.

Z-Library on the dark web (Image: Hackread.com)

Z-Library – A Brief History

Z-Library was founded in 2009 as an extension of Libgen. It was a free file-sharing platform showcasing academic textbooks and peer-reviewed journal articles. It is one of the internet’s top 10k most visited websites.

The platform offered more than 11 million books and 84 million articles. All the content was available free of cost. Instructors and students loved this platform, and around one million unique users visited the site every month.

Gradually, the site started charging for book downloads after a user reached a certain number of books. After some time, Z-Library became a separate platform. Z-Library boasted globally dispersed servers that hosted a database of 220TB.

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I am a UK-based cybersecurity journalist with a passion for covering the latest happenings in cyber security and tech world. I am also into gaming, reading and investigative journalism