Z-Library has become the go-to site for many readers in recent years by providing access to millions of books, without charging a penny.
The site's continued ability to do so was put to the test late last year when U.S. law enforcement seized over 200 domain names connected to the site. Two alleged Z-Library operators were arrested as part of a criminal investigation.
Despite being in the crosshairs of law enforcement, Z-Library has no intention of throwing in the towel. The site remained accessible through the dark web and later made a full comeback. When the U.S. authorities seized more domains earlier this month, it still didn't budge.
Serving Students and Teachers
Z-Library instead doubled down on its mission to provide free books to the public at large, including educational material and textbooks. This makes the site a popular repository for students all around the world, as statistics from Z-Library's user database now reveal.
"It's no secret that the most active users of our library are students and staff from various universities. We wanted to learn more about this and have collected statistics showing which educational institutions use Z-Library," Z-Library writes on Telegram.
The team analyzed its user database to check how many user email-addresses are linked to universities, colleges and schools. This gives an impression of how many students and employees use the site but it's likely a low estimate, as students may very well use their personal email addresses to sign up.
Still, the overall outcome and the global distribution of users is worth highlighting. China is the top country in absolute numbers, followed by India and Indonesia. This is no surprise, perhaps, as these countries also have the largest populations.
Looking at the full database, Z-Library linked 600,000 email addresses to a total of 30,000 educational institutions around the world.
United States and Australia
The only country missing from the top list, population-wise, is the United States. Z-Library notes that it intentionally excluded the country due to the criminal prosecution of two of the site's alleged operators.
"It should be noted that when compiling statistics, we excluded all data related to the United States due to illegal arrest of two Russian citizens on suspicion of involvement in Z-Library," the shadow library writes on Telegram.
There are also some relatively smaller countries in the top list, such as Australia. With a population of just over 25 million, Z-Library is relatively popular there, beating Brazil and Vietnam, which both have much larger populations.
The Australian Monash University also gets a special mention. Apparently, it is the educational institution where users have created the most public booklists. These lists are personal book collections that can be focused on any theme, including educational topics.
Friends and Foes
Trinity College Dublin, in Ireland, is the runner-up based on the number of created booklists. It's worth a separate mention, however, as it also appears in the top 5 universities that donated to Z-Library.
The list of most avid Z-Library supported is led by the top Chinese universities, which are grouped for the purpose of this analysis.
The reported data clearly show that Z-Library is a valuable resource for many students. Comments from users also reflect that, since people from all over the world thank the site for saving them money on books, including textbooks.
That said, public appreciation doesn't shield the site from legal trouble or the U.S. authorities' continuing crack down. For now, however, attention only seems to make the current operators more determined to continue.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
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