Enlarge (credit: GIUSEPPE CACACE / Contributor | AFP)

Last fall, the US Department of Justice pushed the e-book pirate site Z-Library onto the dark web after charging its alleged operators with criminal copyright infringement, wire fraud, and money laundering. Back then, Z-Library users—including many college students who relied on the site as a source for free textbooks—weren’t sure if Z-Library would be able to keep operating. That’s why this weekend, thousands of Z-Library fans rejoiced when Z-Library officially staged its comeback on public-access Internet—by launching a universal login page and setting up secret personal domains for users.

A Z-Library blog post from Saturday viewed by 21,000 users announced the “great news” and prompted users to access Z-Library using their regular login credentials at a new link. Once users log in, they’re redirected to a personal domain they can use to access close to 12 million free e-books on Z-Library without using encrypted networks like Tor. A second domain is also sent by email. At the time of login, users are prompted to check a box promising, “I will keep my domains in secret.”

TorrentFreak reported that Z-Library’s tactic of assigning unique domains creates “a technical setup that anticipates future enforcement action” and will help the site mitigate disruptions by deploying backup domains as needed to avert domain seizures. In November, US officials seized 200 domain names connected to Z-Library, TorrentFreak reported, and to prevent officials from succeeding with future enforcement actions, Z-Library is now depending on users to keep their personal domains private.