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Is the source code of the Sci-hub proxy open source (i.e. their secret sauce)?

by _1tan 5y ago

Anunayj 5y ago
SciHub relies on credentials donated (or sold) by people with access to journals to obtain the papers. (If you are in a university, your university likely provides access to many journals and pays for it on your behalf). So yeah, even if they did open source the code, you'll still need to obtain the credentials somehow. Which isn't very pratical.
- betwixthewires 5y ago
  Well, that's not necessarily true for current existing documents that are already available. I believe they're pinned on IPFS nodes, and so are available through IPFS. So if you did clone their front end and index you should be able to continue operating the system, at least with current availability. What would be nice would be a distributed table that functions as an index specifically for these documents, that way researchers with access could pin to IPFS themselves and add the keywords and content hash to the table. This would be basically unstoppable.
  - xvilka 5y ago
    Unless company behind IPFS bans it. They are a US company after all.
    - londons_explore 5y ago
      The fact IPFS effectively allows anyone to 'ban' a content hash makes it effectively useless.
      - betwixthewires 5y ago
        Is that true? As in, I can ban a hash and nobody can then access it? I've never heard of that.
        agustif 5y ago
        It's an oversimplification If you run a node, you could block hashes of content you don't want hosting. Other nodes can still host it though.
        betwixthewires 5y ago
        Can other nodes find it? If that's the case, I don't see how it is a problem. The user should be able to decide what content their node hosts.
        londons_explore 5y ago
        You can do more than that. You can position yourself in the DHT in a place that even though you don't host the specific data, all users must go through you to find out who hosts it. You then falsely tell all requesters that the data doesn't exist.
        betwixthewires 5y ago
        Do you have any more details on this problem?
    - betwixthewires 5y ago
      Protocol labs? How can they ban something on a distributed network?

Is the source code of the Sci-hub proxy open source (i.e. their secret sauce)?

by _1tan 5y ago

Is the source code of the Sci-hub proxy open source (i.e. their secret sauce)?

SciHub relies on credentials donated (or sold) by people with access to journals to obtain the papers. (If you are in a university, your university likely provides access to many journals and pays for it on your behalf). So yeah, even if they did open source the code, you'll still need to obtain the credentials somehow. Which isn't very pratical.

betwixthewires 5y ago
Well, that's not necessarily true for current existing documents that are already available. I believe they're pinned on IPFS nodes, and so are available through IPFS. So if you did clone their front end and index you should be able to continue operating the system, at least with current availability. What would be nice would be a distributed table that functions as an index specifically for these documents, that way researchers with access could pin to IPFS themselves and add the keywords and content hash to the table. This would be basically unstoppable.
- xvilka 5y ago
  Unless company behind IPFS bans it. They are a US company after all.
  - londons_explore 5y ago
    The fact IPFS effectively allows anyone to 'ban' a content hash makes it effectively useless.
    - betwixthewires 5y ago
      Is that true? As in, I can ban a hash and nobody can then access it? I've never heard of that.
      - agustif 5y ago
        It's an oversimplification If you run a node, you could block hashes of content you don't want hosting. Other nodes can still host it though.
        betwixthewires 5y ago
        Can other nodes find it? If that's the case, I don't see how it is a problem. The user should be able to decide what content their node hosts.
        londons_explore 5y ago
        You can do more than that. You can position yourself in the DHT in a place that even though you don't host the specific data, all users must go through you to find out who hosts it. You then falsely tell all requesters that the data doesn't exist.
        betwixthewires 5y ago
        Do you have any more details on this problem?
  - betwixthewires 5y ago
    Protocol labs? How can they ban something on a distributed network?