4 ms·

Gratuitous misquoting by the Independent here: "But she also acknowledges that some passwords were obtained using the kind of phishing methods that hackers use

Gratuitous misquoting by the Independent here: "But she also acknowledges that some passwords were obtained using the kind of phishing methods that hackers use to dupe people out of financial information." based on the quote "It may be well possible that phished passwords ended up being used at Sci-Hub. I did not send any phishing emails to anyone myself." I don't understand how an editor at a major publication allows claims/spin like this with no concrete evidence unless they are explicitly pushing an agenda (I agree that phishing is at least probable in this case; it also may be an excuse to protect those in the password database if it's ever leaked). Wholly fact-based media seems impossible to find these days.

branchless 10y ago
UK newspapers are dying: http://imgur.com/NJ4F8Tt.jpg http://imgur.com/NJ4F8Tt.jpg I suspect if you cut out the number the Independent hand out for free via hotels it would be even worse. I think now they don't even have a physical edition? These guys must pay next to nothing and demand articles that get "eyeballs", produced in little time. Plus all are captive to their main advertisers: cars, banks, realtors. Why not just read blogs?
- danso 10y ago
  FWIW, this story did not originally come from the Independent. It was syndicated from the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/this-student-put-50-million-stolen-research-articles-online-and-theyre-free/2016/03/30/7714ffb4-eaf7-11e5-b0fd-073d5930a7b7_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/this-student-put-50-mil...
- OJFord 10y ago
  They also all have websites. I subscribe to The Times, but only in digital, so they get my money but I'm not on that graph.
  - branchless 10y ago
    Yes, but most don't sub. Traditional media is a shadow of its former self. The content is shockingly bad. I'd love to bring back to life the editor of these papers from 30 years ago, pretty sure they would want to be dead again.
- rusk 10y ago
  That's very interesting. Seems like the FT is the only one to buck the trend - I wonder what they're doing differently. The Guardian also seems to be stemming the rot. Is this a case of two globally oriented forward looking publications that are embracing new distribution mediums? I've never read the other ones really - maybe this in itself gives a hint, though I am just a sample population of '1'.
  - rusk 10y ago
    I just noticed The Times in there as well. Okay I'm guessing from these 3 data points that it might be because they're actually charging for content, but in exchange actually providing content that is good.
  - branchless 10y ago
    The FT is total garbage however there are a lot more people working in finance in the past 20 years.
KKKKkkkk1 10y ago
Actually, the phishing theory is a very plausible explanation of where sci-hub gets passwords from. I can't imagine someone giving up their password voluntarily even if they believe in the cause. That can lead to very serious repercussions with your university. The fact that Elbakyan does not deny this explanation outright gives it further credence. (Full disclosure: I love sci-hub.)
- goatsi 10y ago
  If someone did give up their login voluntarily insisting that it must have been phished would be a good way to avoid some of those repercussions.
philipkglass 10y ago
I saw system logins for academic libraries shared for years on private forums before sci-hub got started. I doubt that sci-hub had trouble collecting willingly shared credentials. More than a decade ago I saw full journal collections circulated via forums and semi-private FTP sites or password protected archives on sites like rapidshare. There were obviously a number of scripted download/archival efforts initiated by different people. When I was a researcher I published articles in closed journals because that's just how the game is played. But the publishers can go to hell as far as I'm concerned. In public discussions I've occasionally seen professors take the publishers' side against open access or pirates. I've never seen graduate students be anything but grateful for easy access to articles. (Of course with this comment I am just begging for a contrarian graduate student to write an ode to the reader-pays model.)
gwern 10y ago
I think if anything the article is biased in favor of Libgen. Some of the quotes from the publishing industry are just stunningly tonedeaf and the sort of quotes you use when you want to let your subject hang themselves. For example: '“People often say to me, ‘You don’t pay the authors. You don’t pay the reviewers. You hardly print anymore. The Web is free. Why do you charge?’” said H. Frederick Dylla, the former director of the American Institute of Physics and board member of the Association of American Publishers. “It sounds like a compelling argument. But it actually isn’t.”' or this one: "“So is it fair then if some high-school student wants to really follow the Supreme Court and doesn’t have the money to pay?” Greco said. “Life is a bitter mystery. We can’t give everything away for free. It’s not that kind of country.”" I now want to use these for everything. 'Why can't we have sane housing prices in SF? Because the idea that regulation has something to do with it sounds like a compelling argument. But it isn't. The truth is, life is a bitter mystery.'

branchless 10y ago

UK newspapers are dying: http://imgur.com/NJ4F8Tt.jpg http://imgur.com/NJ4F8Tt.jpg I suspect if you cut out the number the Independent hand out for free via hotels it would be even worse. I think now they don't even have a physical edition? These guys must pay next to nothing and demand articles that get "eyeballs", produced in little time. Plus all are captive to their main advertisers: cars, banks, realtors. Why not just read blogs?

danso 10y ago
FWIW, this story did not originally come from the Independent. It was syndicated from the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/this-student-put-50-million-stolen-research-articles-online-and-theyre-free/2016/03/30/7714ffb4-eaf7-11e5-b0fd-073d5930a7b7_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/this-student-put-50-mil...
OJFord 10y ago
They also all have websites. I subscribe to The Times, but only in digital, so they get my money but I'm not on that graph.
- branchless 10y ago
  Yes, but most don't sub. Traditional media is a shadow of its former self. The content is shockingly bad. I'd love to bring back to life the editor of these papers from 30 years ago, pretty sure they would want to be dead again.
rusk 10y ago
That's very interesting. Seems like the FT is the only one to buck the trend - I wonder what they're doing differently. The Guardian also seems to be stemming the rot. Is this a case of two globally oriented forward looking publications that are embracing new distribution mediums? I've never read the other ones really - maybe this in itself gives a hint, though I am just a sample population of '1'.
- rusk 10y ago
  I just noticed The Times in there as well. Okay I'm guessing from these 3 data points that it might be because they're actually charging for content, but in exchange actually providing content that is good.
- branchless 10y ago
  The FT is total garbage however there are a lot more people working in finance in the past 20 years.

KKKKkkkk1 10y ago

Actually, the phishing theory is a very plausible explanation of where sci-hub gets passwords from. I can't imagine someone giving up their password voluntarily even if they believe in the cause. That can lead to very serious repercussions with your university. The fact that Elbakyan does not deny this explanation outright gives it further credence. (Full disclosure: I love sci-hub.)

goatsi 10y ago
If someone did give up their login voluntarily insisting that it must have been phished would be a good way to avoid some of those repercussions.

philipkglass 10y ago

I saw system logins for academic libraries shared for years on private forums before sci-hub got started. I doubt that sci-hub had trouble collecting willingly shared credentials. More than a decade ago I saw full journal collections circulated via forums and semi-private FTP sites or password protected archives on sites like rapidshare. There were obviously a number of scripted download/archival efforts initiated by different people. When I was a researcher I published articles in closed journals because that's just how the game is played. But the publishers can go to hell as far as I'm concerned. In public discussions I've occasionally seen professors take the publishers' side against open access or pirates. I've never seen graduate students be anything but grateful for easy access to articles. (Of course with this comment I am just begging for a contrarian graduate student to write an ode to the reader-pays model.)

gwern 10y ago

I think if anything the article is biased in favor of Libgen. Some of the quotes from the publishing industry are just stunningly tonedeaf and the sort of quotes you use when you want to let your subject hang themselves. For example: '“People often say to me, ‘You don’t pay the authors. You don’t pay the reviewers. You hardly print anymore. The Web is free. Why do you charge?’” said H. Frederick Dylla, the former director of the American Institute of Physics and board member of the Association of American Publishers. “It sounds like a compelling argument. But it actually isn’t.”' or this one: "“So is it fair then if some high-school student wants to really follow the Supreme Court and doesn’t have the money to pay?” Greco said. “Life is a bitter mystery. We can’t give everything away for free. It’s not that kind of country.”" I now want to use these for everything. 'Why can't we have sane housing prices in SF? Because the idea that regulation has something to do with it sounds like a compelling argument. But it isn't. The truth is, life is a bitter mystery.'