A researcher in Russia has made more than 48 million journal articles - almost every single peer-reviewed paper every published - freely available online. And she's now refusing to shut the site down, despite a court injunction and a lawsuit from Elsevier, one of the world's biggest publishers.
For those of you who aren't already using it, the site in question is Sci-Hub, and it's sort of like a Pirate Bay of the science world. It was established in 2011 by neuroscientist Alexandra Elbakyan, who was frustrated that she couldn't afford to access the articles needed for her research, and it's since gone viral, with hundreds of thousands of papers being downloaded daily. But at the end of last year, the site was ordered to be taken down by a New York district court - a ruling that Elbakyan has decided to fight, triggering a debate over who really owns science.
This reminds me of the myth of Prometheus when he stole fire and gave it to the people.
She speaks the truth:
"Payment of $32 is just insane when you need to skim or read tens or hundreds of these papers to do research. I obtained these papers by pirating them," Elbakyan told Torrent Freak last year. "Everyone should have access to knowledge regardless of their income or affiliation. And that’s absolutely legal."
Do you know that the references goes at the end of every paper just MENTIONED to compile the mentions you do in the corpse of your work and to avoid plagiarism, how you readed those references doesn't matter at all. So this point about "not allowing pirate material" is crap, no one is verifying how you read all those references.
I mean if you do your own research, as you claim, you should know this....
Also, Universities in general have subscriptions and you can read papers for free, but that's only on Universities campus. There are a lot of people, specially postgrade students, who work and spend a little amount of time on their campus, therefore is impossible for them to get access to references.
I don't know what I find more laughable, his clear aversion to any form of stealing yet being a paid member of a forum that has its very own dedicated filesharing subforum, I guess stealing is fine if you look the other way right?
Or his inability to 'reference' any of his arguments, I've supplied ample yet he has yet to show me a University that has failed a student for not paying for a journal or to supply any university that offers full access to every online journal in the world. Its like he thinks Universities have their own internet that exists solely to give out free journals. Anyone who has been to university knows full well that there will always be articles you can't access.
Putting scientists out of a job in the long run is actually devastating to humanity and if this thief doesn't get stopped it could mean the end of science.
We'll get left with nothing but corporate scientists, who are very skilled in manipulating research in a way that helps the company funding them make more money.
There is a reason you have to pay for work people often dedicated years of their life to.
Information, knowledge, is a basic human need and it should be free and easily accessible to anyone who wants it. It should not be locked up somewhere where only those who have money can access it. It is not even a question. Anyone who thinks otherwise is just plain dumb.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Wrestling Forum
23.4M posts
266.5K members
Since 2002
A forum community dedicated to all Wrestling enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about WWE, AEW, Ring of Honor, Impact and all forms of professional and amateur wrestling.