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The Unstoppable Rise of Sci-Hub (2019)

blogs.lse.ac.uk

211–220 of 247 posts

Re: The Unstoppable Rise of Sci-Hub (2019)

#211

I am part of a well-funded university, so I have access to all the papers without using Sci-Hub. Nevertheless, I prefer this platform because I disagree with the publishing model of most publishers. Let's not get into the details here, but there is all kinds of shoddy editorship happening all over the place---I have seen at least one blatant case of plagiarism in an Elsevier journal: no one cares. I have experienced…

I'm disappointed that the pinnacle of your search ended in a pdf, probably formatted in 2 columns to make it even worse to read on a screen. For everyone else one of the worst things they can get at the end of their search is a pdf.

Re: The Unstoppable Rise of Sci-Hub (2019)

#212
post #211

I am part of a well-funded university, so I have access to all the papers without using Sci-Hub. Nevertheless, I prefer this platform because I disagree with the publishing model of most publishers. Let's not get into the details here, but there is all kinds of shoddy editorship happening all over the place---I have seen at least one blatant case of plagiarism in an Elsevier journal: no one cares. I have experienced…

I'm disappointed that the pinnacle of your search ended in a pdf, probably formatted in 2 columns to make it even worse to read on a screen. For everyone else one of the worst things they can get at the end of their search is a pdf.

What would you prefer to a PDF? HTML?

Re: The Unstoppable Rise of Sci-Hub (2019)

#213
I've never understood why a wikipedia or github style publishing platform doesn't exist for research papers yet. Why do we ascribe reputation to the journals themselves? Is it the journals or is it the academics who participate in the journal who matter? Also why does reputation even matter really? Wouldn't an open source model make more sense where anyone can offer feedback and comments would be public? Wouldn't it make more sense to have all academics and even non-academics from around the world offer review? Generally speaking there's a right answer, whether it's a hard science where equations are likely involved and can be validated, or a soft science where you can mostly focus on validating the process and analysis. Even in the arts where it might be a bit more subjective. If anything given the reproducibility crisis in modern science, I would say the current model as failed and deserves no reputation at all. This reminds me of this:

https://slate.com/technology/2017/04/we-need-a-github-for-ac...

If anything such a platform would be incredibly valuable in that academics can also create profiles on them and have an additional CV of their activity in contributing back to their field. This can be used as a real additional metric towards providing someone tenure or getting lab positions.

Re: The Unstoppable Rise of Sci-Hub (2019)

#214

I am part of a well-funded university, so I have access to all the papers without using Sci-Hub. Nevertheless, I prefer this platform because I disagree with the publishing model of most publishers. Let's not get into the details here, but there is all kinds of shoddy editorship happening all over the place---I have seen at least one blatant case of plagiarism in an Elsevier journal: no one cares. I have experienced…

The only feature I miss in sci-hub is going from a doi to a BibTex file for the citation.

To obtain a medium-quality BibTeX entry for your DOI:

  curl -LH "Accept: application/x-bibtex" https://doi.org/

Re: The Unstoppable Rise of Sci-Hub (2019)

#215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok you might want to watch this short documentary. Your fun 'pirated' games and software with 'better support' might cost you dearly when your daughter or your girlfriend/wife gets filmed by a hacker, using your own webcam. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFS3p0emftw - "Security awareness: Filmmaker explores RAT malware, buys access to random PCs for just 15 cents a piece - made short film about his experience" Movie…

The Adwind Remote Access Trojan typically spreads by phishing e-mails. Which is why you shouldn't believe everything you read. By the way, this last sentence: >Movies and other media files that don't run any scripts are ok if you're careful and know what you're doing, but installing pirated software is an invitation to get blackmailed and extored by darknet hackers. Is entirely wrong. If you're worried about malware,…

Dangerous for Windows maybe? Most cracked OS X apps make you disable Gatekeeper or System Integry Protection. Game over. So yes, to me that is an invititation.

Re: The Unstoppable Rise of Sci-Hub (2019)

#216
post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft (via a very respectable local retailer) used to sell Office keys which I could only use with Office OPK ISO I could only find available for download on ThePirateBay. As for efficiency (no overhead for distribution etc) I don't really understand why do companies waste resources on technical measures of copyright protection in the first place. Almost every program which is even slightly popular has a crack/ke…

I'm under the impression that massive investment in DRM is more of a way to satisfy tech and (pirate) culture-illiterate humans while making deals for content. Even Steam needed to nominally do something and Gaben's position on piracy/drm is very well-known.

Why should such humans be satisfied?

Re: The Unstoppable Rise of Sci-Hub (2019)

#217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Adwind Remote Access Trojan typically spreads by phishing e-mails. Which is why you shouldn't believe everything you read. By the way, this last sentence: >Movies and other media files that don't run any scripts are ok if you're careful and know what you're doing, but installing pirated software is an invitation to get blackmailed and extored by darknet hackers. Is entirely wrong. If you're worried about malware,…

Dangerous for Windows maybe? Most cracked OS X apps make you disable Gatekeeper or System Integry Protection. Game over. So yes, to me that is an invititation.

Any examples of something that requires disabling SIP in cracked version and not original? Never heard of it, sounds implausible but then I'm hardly up to speed.

Like I get swapping dylibs, but not why that'd be best done by poking around in /System rather than the binary.

Re: The Unstoppable Rise of Sci-Hub (2019)

#218
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was a student in engineer school in France, I had access to a lot of paper through our school subscription. I was still using Sci-Hub all the time because just copy-pasting a DOI or a paper title and getting the PDF was so much better than all the other website which had all clunky and broken login procedure, and god awful UI/UX (understanding how to download the PDF was sometimes more of a challenge than unde…

That's a well-known issue: legal channels usually are ess convenient to use. That's why it often makes sense to download and use a pirated copy of a game/movie/ebook/whatever after you buy it: you both fulfill your duty and enjoy nice UX then. In case of movies, games and software sticking with a legal channel often also means you can't get it in a language you want because a particular company has an exclusive licen…

I'm constantly turning my Netflix profile language to Korean so that I can get Korean subtitles for my wife. It's an annoying workaround, but it often works.

Re: The Unstoppable Rise of Sci-Hub (2019)

#219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Adwind Remote Access Trojan typically spreads by phishing e-mails. Which is why you shouldn't believe everything you read. By the way, this last sentence: >Movies and other media files that don't run any scripts are ok if you're careful and know what you're doing, but installing pirated software is an invitation to get blackmailed and extored by darknet hackers. Is entirely wrong. If you're worried about malware,…

Dangerous for Windows maybe? Most cracked OS X apps make you disable Gatekeeper or System Integry Protection. Game over. So yes, to me that is an invititation.

Use LittleSnitch, Luke!

Re: The Unstoppable Rise of Sci-Hub (2019)

#220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok you might want to watch this short documentary. Your fun 'pirated' games and software with 'better support' might cost you dearly when your daughter or your girlfriend/wife gets filmed by a hacker, using your own webcam. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFS3p0emftw - "Security awareness: Filmmaker explores RAT malware, buys access to random PCs for just 15 cents a piece - made short film about his experience" Movie…

The Adwind Remote Access Trojan typically spreads by phishing e-mails. Which is why you shouldn't believe everything you read. By the way, this last sentence: >Movies and other media files that don't run any scripts are ok if you're careful and know what you're doing, but installing pirated software is an invitation to get blackmailed and extored by darknet hackers. Is entirely wrong. If you're worried about malware,…

> provided you have good anti-malware defenses

There is no such thing as good anti-malware defenses. Most of the antiviruses are 80% bullshit + 20% obsolete, yet asking for money and full-time administrator privileges and unrestricted Internet connection (doesn't that sound suspicious?). Besides patching vulnerabilities regularly, being very careful of what files&websites do you open is the only real protection… as long as you don't come in contact with a fresh exploit which doesn't need you to let them.

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