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Sci-Hub: Removing barriers in the way of science

sci-hub.io

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Re: Sci-Hub: Removing barriers in the way of science

#31

Post by rhblake »

lambdaelite wrote: post #20

Silicon Valley and YC don't exactly have a stellar reputation for ethical behavior. Having a "pirate website" at the top of the news page doesn't exactly change that perception. I totally get that journals are evil, and charging money for research generated with public funds is questionable. It's very frustrating as a small entity needing to view articles, and being asked to cough up $25-50. That said, there are legi…

Generally speaking: what's legal and what's morally right sometimes diverge. Civil disobedience can be a necessity.

If being a professional means blindly following laws without thinking, I'm happy this place is not just for "professionals".

Re: Sci-Hub: Removing barriers in the way of science

#32

Post by Cyph0n »

travjones wrote: post #19

I've used sci-hub a few times. It's a little buggy and not every article can be accessed, but it works well enough to try when I'm not on campus. $30 to read a single article is ridiculous anyway and presents a barrier to scientists who don't have, can't afford, or don't want to pay for access. I hope sci-hub stays up and improves for some time.

If you're a student, your university likely has a proxy service that allows you to access journals from anywhere using your credentials.

My previous uni gives access to alumni for life, so I can access journals for free from wherever.

Re: Sci-Hub: Removing barriers in the way of science

#33

Post by alanwatts »

zanny wrote: post #25
lambdaelite wrote: post #20

Silicon Valley and YC don't exactly have a stellar reputation for ethical behavior. Having a "pirate website" at the top of the news page doesn't exactly change that perception. I totally get that journals are evil, and charging money for research generated with public funds is questionable. It's very frustrating as a small entity needing to view articles, and being asked to cough up $25-50. That said, there are legi…

Distinguish ethical from legal. Not all laws are ethical (depending on where you live, most laws could easily be unethical ), and this website goes out of its way to say why the laws they violate are not.

>One may well ask: “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” The answer is found in the fact that there are two types of laws: There are just laws and there are unjust laws. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with Saint Augustine that “An unjust law is no law at all.” Now what is the difference between the two? How does one determine when a law is just or unjust?

-Dr. King, Letter From a Birmingham Jail

Re: Sci-Hub: Removing barriers in the way of science

#34

Post by IshKebab »

smanzer wrote: post #21

Good for them. For the last article that I published, the publisher "value added" consisted of highlighting all the all-caps names in my document and asking me to define them as acronyms. Literally the only thing they did, and it wasn't even right.

Didn't they also hassle people to review it (for free of course). That's the only thing that would be a bit hard to replace by a totally free service.

Re: Sci-Hub: Removing barriers in the way of science

#35

Post by aw3c2 »

vixen99 wrote: post #17

http://www.freefullpdf.com/#gsc.tab=0 is another useful site if you're a lone researcher who doesn't have taxpayers' money funding your literature search and can't afford (in some cases) $30-$40 to look at a published paper.

Surely that's the same corpus?

Re: Sci-Hub: Removing barriers in the way of science

#36

Post by freshyill »

travjones wrote: post #19

I've used sci-hub a few times. It's a little buggy and not every article can be accessed, but it works well enough to try when I'm not on campus. $30 to read a single article is ridiculous anyway and presents a barrier to scientists who don't have, can't afford, or don't want to pay for access. I hope sci-hub stays up and improves for some time.

No doubt $30 is expensive, but many journals do provide free access to their content in developing countries.

Re: Sci-Hub: Removing barriers in the way of science

#37

Post by mpclark »

lambdaelite wrote: post #20

Silicon Valley and YC don't exactly have a stellar reputation for ethical behavior. Having a "pirate website" at the top of the news page doesn't exactly change that perception. I totally get that journals are evil, and charging money for research generated with public funds is questionable. It's very frustrating as a small entity needing to view articles, and being asked to cough up $25-50. That said, there are legi…

I too am disappointed to see this here, though the young hotheads are obviously out in force today and relishing sticking it to the man.

Surely we are better than this.

One of the earliest lessons I was taught, and I taught my kids, is that if somebody else has something we want and doesn't want to share it, it's not OK to just take it.

Re: Sci-Hub: Removing barriers in the way of science

#38

Post by supergreg »

lambdaelite wrote: post #20

Silicon Valley and YC don't exactly have a stellar reputation for ethical behavior. Having a "pirate website" at the top of the news page doesn't exactly change that perception. I totally get that journals are evil, and charging money for research generated with public funds is questionable. It's very frustrating as a small entity needing to view articles, and being asked to cough up $25-50. That said, there are legi…

Does YC wants to change that perception? In this other thread from today people suggest civil disobedience regarding copyright: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11092016

Re: Sci-Hub: Removing barriers in the way of science

#40

Post by kasbah »

lambdaelite wrote: post #20

Silicon Valley and YC don't exactly have a stellar reputation for ethical behavior. Having a "pirate website" at the top of the news page doesn't exactly change that perception. I totally get that journals are evil, and charging money for research generated with public funds is questionable. It's very frustrating as a small entity needing to view articles, and being asked to cough up $25-50. That said, there are legi…

I think you are making a mistake of equating ethics with legality.

Furthermore, I am not affiliated with YC and have never been even been to Silicon Valley. I merely use this news/link aggregator because the content and links interest me.

Linking to a site doesn't even mean you are condoning it. Would you really rather the mods censor content like this because they are worried about their reputation? I think that is the day I would stop reading HN.

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