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Is Alexandra Elbakyan in real trouble this time?

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Re: Is Alexandra Elbakyan in real trouble this time?

#31

Post by enriquto »

This is extremely infuriating. Alexandra Elbakyan has done a huge positive contribution to human civilization, even knowing that it was putting herself at personal risk. She's just 32 years old. How can we help her? Does she need money, public support, vpns in every country? Whatever she needs, mankind is indebted to her and we should help if we can.

Anybody who has ever supported their research using Sci-Hub (or Library Genesis) should consider helping back. I certainly do, but I don't know how to best support her. Any suggestions?

She's not very communicative lately: https://twitter.com/ringo_ring

Re: Is Alexandra Elbakyan in real trouble this time?

#32

Post by mcguire »

kergonath wrote: post #21
failwhaleshark wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a genius hack. ("Genius" might be redundant.)

That is a huge problem if you acknowledge using an illegal platform in your professional work, including for your co-authors. Almost the opposite of genius, actually.

How so? Might not want to mention it in the same footnote as the grant number.

Re: Is Alexandra Elbakyan in real trouble this time?

#33

Post by kergonath »

wizzwizz4 wrote: post #23
kergonath wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a huge problem if you acknowledge using an illegal platform in your professional work, including for your co-authors. Almost the opposite of genius, actually.

Ah, but Sci-Hub isn't illegal. There's nothing wrong with visiting the Sci-Hub home page, nor with using it as a convenient way to access open-access papers.

Right* (depending on jurisdiction, ymmv). Getting from it articles that you cannot have otherwise is (except for the vanishingly few articles in the public domain, which are not really likely to be found on Sci-Hub anyway. I tried).

Saying that the work could not have been done without it is basically admitting that you got papers outside the subscriptions of your institution. It is also against the policy of all the institutions I know, so could be grounds for termination. And again, this could apply to your co-authors as well.

I am really not endorsing the subscription model, but putting something like that in your articles' acknowledgments really is not smart.

Re: Is Alexandra Elbakyan in real trouble this time?

#34

Post by martin1975 »

mrtksn wrote: post #24
unixhero wrote: post #11

How might we help her?

I think persistence will win this one because the moral dilemma is pretty weak here. Unlike with the software and arts, we don’t need to seek a funding model for the researchers when we take their work for free. It’s my impression that it’s a matter of adaptation before the free access becomes the norm. Therefore technical help and civil disobedience should eventually do the job. In this case, we are stealing from th…

free is a flawed concept - energy and time went into publishing each paper meaning someone paid. If the authors want to give permission, then she ought to seek it for each paper she's put on her website or seek permission from whomever owns the copyright. Otherwise it's theft. And no amount of civil disobedience can justify theft.

Re: Is Alexandra Elbakyan in real trouble this time?

#35

Post by breck »

enriquto wrote: post #31

This is extremely infuriating. Alexandra Elbakyan has done a huge positive contribution to human civilization, even knowing that it was putting herself at personal risk. She's just 32 years old. How can we help her? Does she need money, public support, vpns in every country? Whatever she needs, mankind is indebted to her and we should help if we can. Anybody who has ever supported their research using Sci-Hub (or Lib…

We need to start organizing and go on the offensive: abolish copyright and patents through a constitutional amendment— http://www.breckyunits.com/the-intellectual-freedom-amendmen...

If you’re wondering how to get the public to support it, we need to start spreading the truth. The opioid crisis kicked off by Purdue? Wouldn’t have happened without USPTO. Big tech monopolists? They get their monopoly power from IS laws. The list goes and on. IS laws choke the flow of information through the nervous system of the world and we feel it’s consequences all over the place.

Re: Is Alexandra Elbakyan in real trouble this time?

#36

Post by userbinator »

kergonath wrote: post #21
failwhaleshark wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a genius hack. ("Genius" might be redundant.)

That is a huge problem if you acknowledge using an illegal platform in your professional work, including for your co-authors. Almost the opposite of genius, actually.

That reminds me of a phrase I've heard in relation to file sharing and such: "if everyone runs the red light together, there is nothing to be afraid of".

Re: Is Alexandra Elbakyan in real trouble this time?

#37

Post by breck »

amelius wrote: post #15
nicolas_t wrote: post #13

> The website is blocked in a dozen countries, including Austria, Britain, and France. I'm deeply ashamed that my country would block sci-hub given that the current system is preventing scientific development.

Scientists should put Scihub in the acknowledgements section of their papers. As in "this research would not have been possible without Scihub".

I did this! I encourage everyone to do it! Include the Sci hub link with the DOI.

Re: Is Alexandra Elbakyan in real trouble this time?

#38

Post by jorvi »

tbabej wrote: post #28

I really wonder how this is going to play out. For those who don't follow the current situation with Sci-Hub, Alexandra (the creator and likely the sole operator) of Sci-Hub shut down the part of the website ("the magical proxy") that is responsible for fetching the papers that were not previously retrieved. This was done to comply with the request of the Indian court, as described in the article. As a result, any pa…

I'm very confused, why would she ever have to comply with orders of an Indian (or indeed, US) court if she resides in Europe?

Re: Is Alexandra Elbakyan in real trouble this time?

#39

Post by breck »

kergonath wrote: post #21
failwhaleshark wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a genius hack. ("Genius" might be redundant.)

That is a huge problem if you acknowledge using an illegal platform in your professional work, including for your co-authors. Almost the opposite of genius, actually.

Courageous, I would say. More important than genius.

Re: Is Alexandra Elbakyan in real trouble this time?

#40

Post by SV_BubbleTime »

breck wrote: post #35
enriquto wrote: post #31

This is extremely infuriating. Alexandra Elbakyan has done a huge positive contribution to human civilization, even knowing that it was putting herself at personal risk. She's just 32 years old. How can we help her? Does she need money, public support, vpns in every country? Whatever she needs, mankind is indebted to her and we should help if we can. Anybody who has ever supported their research using Sci-Hub (or Lib…

We need to start organizing and go on the offensive: abolish copyright and patents through a constitutional amendment— http://www.breckyunits.com/the-intellectual-freedom-amendmen... If you’re wondering how to get the public to support it, we need to start spreading the truth. The opioid crisis kicked off by Purdue? Wouldn’t have happened without USPTO. Big tech monopolists? They get their monopoly power from IS laws…

Linking to your own website is fine and all, but not exactly a reference.

And it’s hilariously short sighted. Without patent and copywrite protections, you’ll instantly see innovation come out of places where people are paid for their work. US offloading it’s manufacturing in a short sighted move to cheap labor and head-in-sand environmental outlook - sure, let’s kill the design industries too now too.

There is a problem with how papers are shared and the orgs that control archiving and release. That doesn’t mean all patents must be thrown out.

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