Pirate library must pay publishers $30M, but no one knows who runs it

Game design has a hard cap on numerical values for this reason; when dodge points are maxed out at 100%, there is no true damage.

According to the article summary, U.S. District Court Judge Colleen McMahon issued a ruling against the notorious shadow library Library Genesis (Libgen), involving a substantial compensation award requiring the website to pay textbook publishers $30 million as damages in the copyright infringement lawsuit. However, due to the unknown identity of Libgen's operators, the likelihood of actual compensation payment is quite low.

The court issued an extremely broad injunction, not only prohibiting Libgen from hosting any copyrighted content but also banning anyone collaborating or assisting in its operations, including hosting Libgen, registering its website domain, providing cloud storage or advertising services, etc. Additionally, even displaying links or using browser extensions that can connect to Libgen was prohibited. Although the injunction was severe, whether the publishers could completely destroy Libgen remains uncertain, as the website's anonymity and difficulty in being located make it challenging for law enforcement to fully shut it down.

In addition to banning domain registration, this injunction also pressured advertising service providers. Libgen previously relied on Google's ad revenue to support its operations, so the court aimed to hinder the website's sustainability by blocking advertising funds. If Google terminates its advertising support for Libgen, this might disrupt the website's financial resources and threaten its operational capacity. Nevertheless, Libgen's main domain is still online with millions of daily visitors, indicating that it continues to operate before being destroyed.