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Couple of thoughts: 1. > Show HN Did you @sixtyfourbits make this? Any stories about how you came to be involved in the project? IPFS seems like a pretty idea

Couple of thoughts: 1. > Show HN Did you @sixtyfourbits make this? Any stories about how you came to be involved in the project? IPFS seems like a pretty ideal way to handle sharing documents like this, I'm surprised LibGen hasn't used it before (previously, you would get redirected to one of many constantly dying domains that may have ads and frequently 404 on the actual book you're looking for). 2. Also, this interface frequently doesn't work in Firefox for me. It hangs while trying to load the file. Fortunately, you can check the browser dev tools and find the actual IPFS gateway link (which uses ipfs.io), and go to that link directly. My experience is that the direct link not only works far more frequently, it's actually faster as well. So this raises an obvious question: rather than load the file in a fancy interface, why doesn't the link just take you directly to the IPFS gateway? 3. Is there any concern that systematically using a legitimate service like IPFS to share illegal material will create a situation similar to that of Bittorrent, which is similarly often presumed illegal until proven otherwise? That seems like a shame. I suspect the only reason why rights holders have not cracked down on IPFS is that it's not yet big enough to be on their radar.

dudehere 5y ago
2. It's random for a random user. I'd suggest to try every suggested natively supporting browser with the list of given URLs to find which combination works the best for you. 3. An arbitrary IPFS gateway can be set up our rented, it's not a taboo. They are usually $10/Mon.
- bscphil 5y ago
  2. I don't understand what you mean? Are you saying the gateway is random? I tried several different browsers and got ipfs.io every time. Are you saying it's random whether it works or not? If so, that seems ... bad. 3. It's not about whether it's difficult to act as an IPFS node, it's about whether doing so will (in the future) bring you under legal scrutiny the same way running a node serving copyrighted content on the Bittorrent network will do now. DMCA against the major gateways will probably work to make files difficult to access, and IPFS necessarily reveals the IP address of the node you connect to, if you don't reveal a gateway. Similar techniques are used to get the IP addresses of Bittorrent users, and send them demands for financial compensation or sue them in court for distributing copyrighted material. If the same becomes common for IPFS, it would not be unlikely to see college networks come under pressure to ban access to IPFS, and this would limit access to LibGen's database in a significant way.
  - dudehere 5y ago
    2. Yes, random whether a chosen gateway works or not. A list of alternative gateways can be supported, in principle. Use local IPFS node software to use ipfs://... links instead, if the hardcoded IPFS gateway doesn't work for you. 3. IPFS node and gateway are different things. A gateway is vulnerable to takedowns. A node isn't nearly as vulnerable. And if you run IPFS Desktop or similar software on a VPN connection, what's really left to be afraid of, conceptually? Pretty much nothing. It may throttle the traffic a bit, but that's no problem. Pick MullVad VPN or some other like NordVPN etc. Free test days are available usually. I don't know why exactly, but edonkey was killed by intercepting participants' IPs, but even without encryption it has not yet happened to BitTorrent. With VPN it's just unfeasible.
    - bscphil 5y ago
      > Yes, random whether a chosen gateway works or not That might be true, but what I was saying in the OP was that the interface at libgen.fun usually does not work for me in Firefox, but the direct link to the gateway (the same one that the interface is using internally) almost always works for me. > And if you run IPFS Desktop or similar software on a VPN connection, what's really left to be afraid of, conceptually? Yes, but most users are going to download through an interface like this one. The concern is that this will put a legal burden on prominent public gateways once they become the targets of DMCAs and that rights holders may even be able to put pressure on university networks to block IPFS entirely, harming the whole network. You seem sure that people downloading or pinning content on the IPFS network are all using a VPN. I'm not so certain of that. The situation is rather similar to Bittorrent, I expect. It's certainly true that Bittorrent as a whole hasn't been killed (nor could it plausibly be), but (a) it's routinely blocked on certain networks, making it harder for certain people to use it even for legal purposes, (b) most people in fact don't use VPNs and rights holders do send takedowns (via ISPs) threatening lawsuits or demanding payments, (c) even on private trackers, VPN use isn't ubiquitous. If any of these trackers reuse public torrent hashes, their users are at risk of being port scanned.
      - dudehere 5y ago
dudehere 5y ago
1. The main contributor, the author, of this code sees this thread, but previously he asked not to mention his nickname. However, to give it an own tag, libgen.crypto is referred to as antisite. If he wishes otherwise, we'll happily present him to the public. Phiresky deserves the other half of the appraisal for his work on the underlying VFS. By looking at how people find each other to get tiny bits together into something mind-blowing we see how LG functions as a social development core, as a heritage harvester, and as a living organism. Everybody who makes a contribution, even a smaller one, no need to make revolutions every day, directly affects the civilization through Library Genesis. LG is built of contributions in the same way as our body is made of cells. It's our heritage.

dudehere 5y ago

2. It's random for a random user. I'd suggest to try every suggested natively supporting browser with the list of given URLs to find which combination works the best for you. 3. An arbitrary IPFS gateway can be set up our rented, it's not a taboo. They are usually $10/Mon.

bscphil 5y ago
2. I don't understand what you mean? Are you saying the gateway is random? I tried several different browsers and got ipfs.io every time. Are you saying it's random whether it works or not? If so, that seems ... bad. 3. It's not about whether it's difficult to act as an IPFS node, it's about whether doing so will (in the future) bring you under legal scrutiny the same way running a node serving copyrighted content on the Bittorrent network will do now. DMCA against the major gateways will probably work to make files difficult to access, and IPFS necessarily reveals the IP address of the node you connect to, if you don't reveal a gateway. Similar techniques are used to get the IP addresses of Bittorrent users, and send them demands for financial compensation or sue them in court for distributing copyrighted material. If the same becomes common for IPFS, it would not be unlikely to see college networks come under pressure to ban access to IPFS, and this would limit access to LibGen's database in a significant way.
- dudehere 5y ago
  2. Yes, random whether a chosen gateway works or not. A list of alternative gateways can be supported, in principle. Use local IPFS node software to use ipfs://... links instead, if the hardcoded IPFS gateway doesn't work for you. 3. IPFS node and gateway are different things. A gateway is vulnerable to takedowns. A node isn't nearly as vulnerable. And if you run IPFS Desktop or similar software on a VPN connection, what's really left to be afraid of, conceptually? Pretty much nothing. It may throttle the traffic a bit, but that's no problem. Pick MullVad VPN or some other like NordVPN etc. Free test days are available usually. I don't know why exactly, but edonkey was killed by intercepting participants' IPs, but even without encryption it has not yet happened to BitTorrent. With VPN it's just unfeasible.
  - bscphil 5y ago
    > Yes, random whether a chosen gateway works or not That might be true, but what I was saying in the OP was that the interface at libgen.fun usually does not work for me in Firefox, but the direct link to the gateway (the same one that the interface is using internally) almost always works for me. > And if you run IPFS Desktop or similar software on a VPN connection, what's really left to be afraid of, conceptually? Yes, but most users are going to download through an interface like this one. The concern is that this will put a legal burden on prominent public gateways once they become the targets of DMCAs and that rights holders may even be able to put pressure on university networks to block IPFS entirely, harming the whole network. You seem sure that people downloading or pinning content on the IPFS network are all using a VPN. I'm not so certain of that. The situation is rather similar to Bittorrent, I expect. It's certainly true that Bittorrent as a whole hasn't been killed (nor could it plausibly be), but (a) it's routinely blocked on certain networks, making it harder for certain people to use it even for legal purposes, (b) most people in fact don't use VPNs and rights holders do send takedowns (via ISPs) threatening lawsuits or demanding payments, (c) even on private trackers, VPN use isn't ubiquitous. If any of these trackers reuse public torrent hashes, their users are at risk of being port scanned.
    - dudehere 5y ago

dudehere 5y ago

1. The main contributor, the author, of this code sees this thread, but previously he asked not to mention his nickname. However, to give it an own tag, libgen.crypto is referred to as antisite. If he wishes otherwise, we'll happily present him to the public. Phiresky deserves the other half of the appraisal for his work on the underlying VFS. By looking at how people find each other to get tiny bits together into something mind-blowing we see how LG functions as a social development core, as a heritage harvester, and as a living organism. Everybody who makes a contribution, even a smaller one, no need to make revolutions every day, directly affects the civilization through Library Genesis. LG is built of contributions in the same way as our body is made of cells. It's our heritage.