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Sci-Hub was interesting because until 2021, it could automatically add any article not in its database by querying proxy servers set up at universities that act

Sci-Hub was interesting because until 2021, it could automatically add any article not in its database by querying proxy servers set up at universities that actually subscribed to the journals, which would then download the PDF from the journal’s website and forward it to Sci-Hub. (This was the approach most academics took in the pre-Sci-Hub days; they’d email friends at other universities and ask them if they had access to a given article.) Sadly, Sci-Hub took down this “magic proxy” to try and win a court case in India, which its creator thinks might legitimize it elsewhere. It’s a huge shame, because it means that many obscure articles are now inaccessible via Sci-Hub. Ironically, a pure proxy-based Sci-Hub that didn’t host any articles on its own might actually be legal in certain countries, since it’s not actually hosting any copyrighted content itself. It definitely would be a lot easier to host and a lot harder to shut down; indeed, it could be completely decentralized.

pdntspa 4y ago
The Pirate Bay has never hosted any content; yet many, many cases have been decided against them. Why would that work for sci-hub?
- genewitch 4y ago
  Courts can make dumb decisions, either by bias or bad arguments. Proper lawyer-ing can cover for bad decisions some of the time, and perhaps losing some case and winning others is more important. realistically everyone wants to know where they stand. There's certain "arranged" understandings when it comes to science (and all academic) publishing, and navigating that to provide a uniform interface to the actual documents is the "hard part" - although realistically, a file is a file, and distribution should be "easy". recently i needed to check what domains i had purchased through various domain name providers (namecheap, godaddy), and i nearly lost access to my godaddy account because of the TOTP/verification stages. I consider cellphone numbers ephemeral, as i consider all phone numbers. I've been told that a dozen numbers in twice as many years is too many, but i refuse to get led around by the nose by cellular providers. So TOTP only works if i have access to the - few - phone numbers i had access to when i signed up. Several services (including some mentioned) used to have voice TOTP, but no longer do, and use an SMS bridge. Some want me to have an app on a phone *with a(n) (e)SIM*. my email service is attached to a domain name that i very nearly lost access to management for. I was complaining about an old gmail address i had and i decided to look at my overall domain health and found it lacking. someone who is - forgive this - "balls deep" in a degree just wants whatever they publish to work for their advisors and graders. Obviously research assistants and research students in a masters or doctorate program are held to a slightly higher standard of "publish or perish" because of the way grants are written and assigned. It's all garbage, and has been for at least 15 years. sorry for my meandering, but i felt these two annoyances are related.
- MontyCarloHall 4y ago
  I didn’t say that all countries would deem Sci-Hub legal, just that some might. Indeed, The Pirate Bay is perfectly legal in several countries.
genewitch 4y ago
ohhhh, so that's why, when my people got their PhD and Master degrees from universities suddenly sci-hub stopped working correctly. I put out the word that it was possible to get any study ever and people asked me this year for a bunch of studies that, prior to this year, should have been the definition of ease. Months later, I'm still waiting on sci-hub or anyone to get access to the studies. The real WTF is science publishing. never-mind reproducibility of the studies, just getting the study in the first place is a predicament. at least genesis still works for 85% of requests i get.

pdntspa 4y ago

The Pirate Bay has never hosted any content; yet many, many cases have been decided against them. Why would that work for sci-hub?

genewitch 4y ago
Courts can make dumb decisions, either by bias or bad arguments. Proper lawyer-ing can cover for bad decisions some of the time, and perhaps losing some case and winning others is more important. realistically everyone wants to know where they stand. There's certain "arranged" understandings when it comes to science (and all academic) publishing, and navigating that to provide a uniform interface to the actual documents is the "hard part" - although realistically, a file is a file, and distribution should be "easy". recently i needed to check what domains i had purchased through various domain name providers (namecheap, godaddy), and i nearly lost access to my godaddy account because of the TOTP/verification stages. I consider cellphone numbers ephemeral, as i consider all phone numbers. I've been told that a dozen numbers in twice as many years is too many, but i refuse to get led around by the nose by cellular providers. So TOTP only works if i have access to the - few - phone numbers i had access to when i signed up. Several services (including some mentioned) used to have voice TOTP, but no longer do, and use an SMS bridge. Some want me to have an app on a phone *with a(n) (e)SIM*. my email service is attached to a domain name that i very nearly lost access to management for. I was complaining about an old gmail address i had and i decided to look at my overall domain health and found it lacking. someone who is - forgive this - "balls deep" in a degree just wants whatever they publish to work for their advisors and graders. Obviously research assistants and research students in a masters or doctorate program are held to a slightly higher standard of "publish or perish" because of the way grants are written and assigned. It's all garbage, and has been for at least 15 years. sorry for my meandering, but i felt these two annoyances are related.
MontyCarloHall 4y ago
I didn’t say that all countries would deem Sci-Hub legal, just that some might. Indeed, The Pirate Bay is perfectly legal in several countries.

genewitch 4y ago

ohhhh, so that's why, when my people got their PhD and Master degrees from universities suddenly sci-hub stopped working correctly. I put out the word that it was possible to get any study ever and people asked me this year for a bunch of studies that, prior to this year, should have been the definition of ease. Months later, I'm still waiting on sci-hub or anyone to get access to the studies. The real WTF is science publishing. never-mind reproducibility of the studies, just getting the study in the first place is a predicament. at least genesis still works for 85% of requests i get.