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So, we don't have to pay for the access, great. But searching for and collating all these tens of thousands of papers in each federal repository will have to b

So, we don't have to pay for the access, great. But searching for and collating all these tens of thousands of papers in each federal repository will have to be done... manually... by every researcher. .....Oh. You wanted search? You wanted indexing? You wanted a centrally managed service to pull from all those different federal repositories? Well, you're gonna need a company to develop all that and run it. You can use it for a subscription fee. That just happens to be the same cost as access to journals. Or if you're lucky, subsidized by ads for Subway and Nike. There is no such thing as a free lunch, people.

aaaaaaaaata 4y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sci-Hub https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sci-Hub
- 0xbadcafebee 4y ago
  Sci-Hub is still illegal. If they made a completely separate legal entity that respected copyright, sure, something like that could work. Until that happens, the choice will be "do everything manually" or "break the law", and I don't think a whole lot of universities or corporations will be condoning the latter.
  - pksebben 4y ago
    perhaps the law needs to change. There's also more interests in the world than corporations and universities. an organizational Monopoly on ideas is dangerous - it stifles innovation and destroys competition.
hedora 4y ago
Shh!!! if someone at Usenix finds out, the entire organization will disappear in a puff of logic!
k099 4y ago
USG already publishes a ton of free data, like weather and maps. The ecosystem of repackaging and building improved services seems to be working fine because it opens up a broad range of competitive options, not a paid embargo to a few.
jjk166 4y ago
Right now every journal is a monopoly that can charge whatever it wants for as terrible service as it wants. With the change they need to compete with every bored college student who knows beautiful soup.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

aaaaaaaaata 4y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sci-Hub https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sci-Hub

0xbadcafebee 4y ago
Sci-Hub is still illegal. If they made a completely separate legal entity that respected copyright, sure, something like that could work. Until that happens, the choice will be "do everything manually" or "break the law", and I don't think a whole lot of universities or corporations will be condoning the latter.
- pksebben 4y ago
  perhaps the law needs to change. There's also more interests in the world than corporations and universities. an organizational Monopoly on ideas is dangerous - it stifles innovation and destroys competition.

hedora 4y ago

Shh!!! if someone at Usenix finds out, the entire organization will disappear in a puff of logic!

k099 4y ago

USG already publishes a ton of free data, like weather and maps. The ecosystem of repackaging and building improved services seems to be working fine because it opens up a broad range of competitive options, not a paid embargo to a few.

jjk166 4y ago

Right now every journal is a monopoly that can charge whatever it wants for as terrible service as it wants. With the change they need to compete with every bored college student who knows beautiful soup.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]