8 ms·

Publishers blocking IPs for alleged sci-hub use

141 points by jboynyc 7y ago

hedora 7y ago
Honest question: I want to download all papers I am an author of (I have joint copyright, and limited redistribution rights for all of these), but I don’t have logins for the publisher sites for all of them, and finding the long tail of papers in my backups is a PITA. I haven’t used scihub, but it sounds like the best tool for this purpose. Any hints on how to proceed? Has someone written a script to do this or something?
- this_was_posted 7y ago
  http://gen.lib.rus.ec/scimag/ http://gen.lib.rus.ec/scimag/ I would use this
  - mpfundstein 7y ago
    Ah genesis lib. My saviour :-)
- striking 7y ago
  Scihub has a CAPTCHA so you can't really automate it.
- ohazi 7y ago
  Google "scihub {papername}" and click on the first result. It's not even just about the access restrictions... Even if I have access to a paper, grabbing it via scihub is so much faster and more reliable than via the publisher's garbage website.
- dredmorbius 7y ago
  LibGen has field-based search backed on Sci-Hub's archive, including author: http://libgen.io/scimag/index.php http://libgen.io/scimag/index.php
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
eli 7y ago
Surprised it took so long
lolc 7y ago
I don't think this is about using Sci-Hub. It looks like the journal is trying to prevent mass-exfiltration of its articles to Sci-Hub. Why would they do that based on IP-addresses and not based on accounts? Maybe they're actually combining those. So when an account used the same IP-Address like a "ripper" account, it will get associated with it. And the blocking message shows the old address. This can easily happen at a university where a lot of accounts access the journal through the same IP-Address. Well... Sci-Hub doesn't have these blocks. So just use that service if you want to get work done. Also, WHOIS says the IP-Address 86.168.188.188 is used by British Telecom: AS2856 BT Public Internet
- eli 7y ago
  Aren’t most accounts site licenses? I assume it’s like a raspberry pi running on a university library network somewhere
  - lolc 7y ago
    You mean you don't have to login to use the journal? That authentication is done by IP-Address? Possible, I don't know how they implement access-controls. Sounds like a fun way to piss of universities who pay for access: Block their gateway!
    - grenoire 7y ago
      That will get the university network account you use blocked, if anything. The journals know which blocks are used by the registered institutions; oftentimes being on the campus network will tunnel you directly, and off-campus you'll be using your personal account to access whatever index there is.
    - matwood 7y ago
      > You mean you don't have to login to use the journal? That authentication is done by IP-Address? Depends on the journal/resource. Many resources purchased by universities are authenticated by IP. It's less friction for students when trying to access something, and provides psuedo-anonymity. There is some push to move to something like OpenAthens for all authentication/authorization, but universities do not want to lose the privacy aspect for their students.
enriquto 7y ago
I hope scihub engages in a full-scale campaign for university professors setting their computers as scihub proxies. Only a professor in each major university would suffice to block all universities from the extortionist journals! That would certainly be a boost to scihub!
- ryanlol 7y ago
  Scihub is probably just buying hacked edu proxy/vpn creds for 1-2 dollars each. There are widespread phishing campaigns targeting .edu mails, and lots of sites selling the credentials.
  - calcifer 7y ago
    That would be extremely counterintuitive given how pristine Scihub's image is among academia. It is much more likely people are "donating" access from within university networks.
    - Mathnerd314 7y ago
      When every talk, study, etc. discussing it (e.g. https://greenelab.github.io/scihub-manuscript/ https://greenelab.github.io/scihub-manuscript/) includes a statement like "Users of Sci-Hub do so at their own risk. This study is not an endorsement of using Sci-Hub.", I don't think it can be called pristine. And from articles like https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2018/09/18/guest-post-think-sci-hub-is-just-downloading-pdfs-think-again/ https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2018/09/18/guest-post-th... there seems to be some connection between Sci-Hub and the cyber underworld, although perhaps it's just the cyber thieves sending Sci-Hub papers and Sci-Hub isn't an active participant.
      - calcifer 7y ago
        > "Users of Sci-Hub do so at their own risk. This study is not an endorsement of using Sci-Hub.", I don't think it can be called pristine. People being forced to cover their asses due to a broken copyright system does absolutely nothing to tarnish Sci-Hub's image. > articles like [...] Well, you'll have to excuse me if I don't take the allegations of a publishing industry mouthpiece like SSP seriously.
judge2020 7y ago
Archive.org: https://web.archive.org/web/20190712120132/https://twitter.com/HPS_Vanessa/status/1149648473819500544 https://web.archive.org/web/20190712120132/https://twitter.c...
dublinben 7y ago
Mirrors: https://archive.is/20190712170650/https://twitter.com/HPS_Vanessa/status/1149648473819500544 https://archive.is/20190712170650/https://twitter.com/HPS_Va... https://web.archive.org/web/20190712170652/https:/twitter.com/HPS_Vanessa/status/1149648473819500544 https://web.archive.org/web/20190712170652/https:/twitter.co...
jsilence 7y ago
Still wondering why SciHub is not yet on IPFS or dat://.

141 points by jboynyc 7y ago

Honest question: I want to download all papers I am an author of (I have joint copyright, and limited redistribution rights for all of these), but I don’t have logins for the publisher sites for all of them, and finding the long tail of papers in my backups is a PITA. I haven’t used scihub, but it sounds like the best tool for this purpose. Any hints on how to proceed? Has someone written a script to do this or something?

this_was_posted 7y ago
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/scimag/ http://gen.lib.rus.ec/scimag/ I would use this
- mpfundstein 7y ago
  Ah genesis lib. My saviour :-)
striking 7y ago
Scihub has a CAPTCHA so you can't really automate it.
ohazi 7y ago
Google "scihub {papername}" and click on the first result. It's not even just about the access restrictions... Even if I have access to a paper, grabbing it via scihub is so much faster and more reliable than via the publisher's garbage website.
dredmorbius 7y ago
LibGen has field-based search backed on Sci-Hub's archive, including author: http://libgen.io/scimag/index.php http://libgen.io/scimag/index.php
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

eli 7y ago

Surprised it took so long

lolc 7y ago

I don't think this is about using Sci-Hub. It looks like the journal is trying to prevent mass-exfiltration of its articles to Sci-Hub. Why would they do that based on IP-addresses and not based on accounts? Maybe they're actually combining those. So when an account used the same IP-Address like a "ripper" account, it will get associated with it. And the blocking message shows the old address. This can easily happen at a university where a lot of accounts access the journal through the same IP-Address. Well... Sci-Hub doesn't have these blocks. So just use that service if you want to get work done. Also, WHOIS says the IP-Address 86.168.188.188 is used by British Telecom: AS2856 BT Public Internet

eli 7y ago
Aren’t most accounts site licenses? I assume it’s like a raspberry pi running on a university library network somewhere
- lolc 7y ago
  You mean you don't have to login to use the journal? That authentication is done by IP-Address? Possible, I don't know how they implement access-controls. Sounds like a fun way to piss of universities who pay for access: Block their gateway!
  - grenoire 7y ago
    That will get the university network account you use blocked, if anything. The journals know which blocks are used by the registered institutions; oftentimes being on the campus network will tunnel you directly, and off-campus you'll be using your personal account to access whatever index there is.
  - matwood 7y ago
    > You mean you don't have to login to use the journal? That authentication is done by IP-Address? Depends on the journal/resource. Many resources purchased by universities are authenticated by IP. It's less friction for students when trying to access something, and provides psuedo-anonymity. There is some push to move to something like OpenAthens for all authentication/authorization, but universities do not want to lose the privacy aspect for their students.

enriquto 7y ago

I hope scihub engages in a full-scale campaign for university professors setting their computers as scihub proxies. Only a professor in each major university would suffice to block all universities from the extortionist journals! That would certainly be a boost to scihub!

ryanlol 7y ago
Scihub is probably just buying hacked edu proxy/vpn creds for 1-2 dollars each. There are widespread phishing campaigns targeting .edu mails, and lots of sites selling the credentials.
- calcifer 7y ago
  That would be extremely counterintuitive given how pristine Scihub's image is among academia. It is much more likely people are "donating" access from within university networks.
  - Mathnerd314 7y ago
    When every talk, study, etc. discussing it (e.g. https://greenelab.github.io/scihub-manuscript/ https://greenelab.github.io/scihub-manuscript/) includes a statement like "Users of Sci-Hub do so at their own risk. This study is not an endorsement of using Sci-Hub.", I don't think it can be called pristine. And from articles like https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2018/09/18/guest-post-think-sci-hub-is-just-downloading-pdfs-think-again/ https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2018/09/18/guest-post-th... there seems to be some connection between Sci-Hub and the cyber underworld, although perhaps it's just the cyber thieves sending Sci-Hub papers and Sci-Hub isn't an active participant.
    - calcifer 7y ago
      > "Users of Sci-Hub do so at their own risk. This study is not an endorsement of using Sci-Hub.", I don't think it can be called pristine. People being forced to cover their asses due to a broken copyright system does absolutely nothing to tarnish Sci-Hub's image. > articles like [...] Well, you'll have to excuse me if I don't take the allegations of a publishing industry mouthpiece like SSP seriously.

judge2020 7y ago

Archive.org: https://web.archive.org/web/20190712120132/https://twitter.com/HPS_Vanessa/status/1149648473819500544 https://web.archive.org/web/20190712120132/https://twitter.c...

dublinben 7y ago

Mirrors: https://archive.is/20190712170650/https://twitter.com/HPS_Vanessa/status/1149648473819500544 https://archive.is/20190712170650/https://twitter.com/HPS_Va... https://web.archive.org/web/20190712170652/https:/twitter.com/HPS_Vanessa/status/1149648473819500544 https://web.archive.org/web/20190712170652/https:/twitter.co...

jsilence 7y ago

Still wondering why SciHub is not yet on IPFS or dat://.