Late last year, the U.S. government took down the free e-book download site Z-Library, and arrested those affiliated with the project. I recently learned about another website that has taken up the mantle and is working to catalog free e-books. The conflict arises from the fact that these sites include copyrighted materials in their archives.

Anna’s Archive, is a search engine that was created by an internet archivist who goes by the name “AnnaArchivist,” but who choses to remain anonymous. The archive’s stated aim is to “catalog all the books in existence, by aggregating data from various sources. We also track humanity’s progress toward making all these books easily available in digital form, through ‘shadow libraries.’”

Anna’s Archive walks a finely drawn legal line by acting as a search engine that directs users to outside sites where they can download books and other texts, stating, “we do not host such content on here ourselves.” The site offers visitors a disclaimer to check if downloading such files would violate local laws, and proclaim, “We are not responsible for content hosted by others.”

Not much is publically known about the eponymous Anna. Along with Anna’s Archive, they also host a related project called the “PiLiMi” (short for the Private Library Mirror), which more deliberately backs up shadow libraries that are now being targeted as hosts of copyrighted material — including backups of Z-Library and Library Genesis. (Z-Library started as a backup of LibGen.) Anna’s Archive directs users to downloadable texts that can be obtained though PiLiMi.

I am ambivalent about any site that is giving access to copyrighted books by living authors, but can see the value in trying to preserve books that are out of print or inaccessible to people in many countries. Your thoughts ?