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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

#211

Post by coliveira »

amatic wrote: post #205
coliveira wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have never seen an illegal library, have you? Don't try to confuse a respectable institution with pirate web sites that didn't ask permission to anyone to do their illegal thing.

What is the difference, asside from someone deeming copying 'illegal'?

There is nothing illegal about copying per se, as long as there are no provisions against it. This is a basic principle of human society. For example, there is nothing illegal about walking without shoes, as long as there is no regulation preventing it as it's the case at some government offices. Your reasoning is just trying to throw away our society principles to justify your behavior. My main contention is not that we shouldn't have free information, but that it is unethical to disregard existing laws just because you don't like them.

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

#214

Post by amatic »

coliveira wrote: post #211
amatic wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the difference, asside from someone deeming copying 'illegal'?

There is nothing illegal about copying per se, as long as there are no provisions against it. This is a basic principle of human society. For example, there is nothing illegal about walking without shoes, as long as there is no regulation preventing it as it's the case at some government offices. Your reasoning is just trying to throw away our society principles to justify your behavior. My main contention is not tha…

There is nothing unethical in braking the law. It is illegal to disregard existing laws, ethics is a different matter. There were many racist, sexist, oppressing laws in the past that we consider unethical today, and may even celebrate people who broke those unethical laws in protest to authorities and 'the society'.

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

#215

Post by cyphar »

Houshalter wrote: post #146
cyphar wrote: post #79

I didn't know that you could raid ships using a website(!). In all seriousness, the act of "sharing the collective knowledge of mankind publicly" isn't morally equivalent to attacking ships and killing people. We should stop using terms that are clearly propaganda created by the film and music industry to try to muddy the waters.

Some people have been using the word "freebooting" instead.

Hello Internet is a very funny podcast. But "freebooting" isn't a positive thing. Sharing is a positive thing. The two terms do not equate morally.

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

#216

Post by cyphar »

fdej wrote: post #105
cyphar wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Prestige" of a peer-reviewed article in a particular journal isn't the most important thing. What matters is how well-cited your work is. Peer-review is done by contributors to a journal, so you could get the same from a free service.

Publishing in the most prestigious journals is hugely important. The first thing many academic hiring/promotion/grant committees look at is how many Nobel Prizes you've won, the second thing is how many publications you have in Nature or Science. Everything else is just for breaking ties. I've even heard that there are fields where having any conference publications counts against you.

That's not the experience I've had in my faculty. My supervisor has referred to Nature and Science as "shiny PR journals". Besides, citations are what actually matter, because they show how popular your work is within the community. Why else would people who write cool software (GNU Parallel, Scipy, Numpy, etc) all ask for citations for their papers? If all that matters is "getting it published" and not "getting it cited", then they shouldn't care, right?

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

#217

Post by coliveira »

amatic wrote: post #214
coliveira wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is nothing illegal about copying per se, as long as there are no provisions against it. This is a basic principle of human society. For example, there is nothing illegal about walking without shoes, as long as there is no regulation preventing it as it's the case at some government offices. Your reasoning is just trying to throw away our society principles to justify your behavior. My main contention is not tha…

There is nothing unethical in braking the law. It is illegal to disregard existing laws, ethics is a different matter. There were many racist, sexist, oppressing laws in the past that we consider unethical today, and may even celebrate people who broke those unethical laws in protest to authorities and 'the society'.

True, there are situations where breaking the law is the ethical thing to do. However, you are trying to put access to a copyrighted book at the same level as fighting against sexism and racial oppression. Unless you can show that these situations are closely comparable (little clue: they're not), you're just creating an excuse to avoid following laws that don't benefit yourself.

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

#218

Post by Houshalter »

cyphar wrote: post #215
Houshalter wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people have been using the word "freebooting" instead.

Hello Internet is a very funny podcast. But "freebooting" isn't a positive thing. Sharing is a positive thing. The two terms do not equate morally.

Well piracy shouldn't be a positive thing.

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

#219

Post by aargh_aargh »

yetanotheracc wrote: post #104

Speaking of moral courage, how does one contribute institutional login credentials to sci-hub?

Only guessing here - you don't provide login credentials, you provide a proxy host within the university IP range as IP-based authentication is still the most commonly used method for licensed databases.

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

#220

Post by amatic »

coliveira wrote: post #217
amatic wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is nothing unethical in braking the law. It is illegal to disregard existing laws, ethics is a different matter. There were many racist, sexist, oppressing laws in the past that we consider unethical today, and may even celebrate people who broke those unethical laws in protest to authorities and 'the society'.

True, there are situations where breaking the law is the ethical thing to do. However, you are trying to put access to a copyrighted book at the same level as fighting against sexism and racial oppression. Unless you can show that these situations are closely comparable (little clue: they're not), you're just creating an excuse to avoid following laws that don't benefit yourself.

In the case of copyrighted books or research papers, it could be a matter of life and death for the user, if we are talking about access to various types of medical research, for example.
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