Free or Paid Access To Information?
By James Donahue
I do not allow advertising on my website. I write my own stories and allow free access to the public. I pay for my web space and have chosen a program that is so easy to use a novice like me to design and publish my own pages. I do this because I am a retired writer living on a fixed income but I have work yet to be done before I cash in my chips. And I have a deep dislike for the crass way in which we are constantly bombarded commercialism wherever we turn.
Because I am a trained sociologist, historian and an experienced journalist I am also alarmed by the way the media now controls the thinking of the people. In an attempt to remain as objective as possible, I no longer watch television except for the advertisement-free programming that I purchase. I get my news on line but utilize certain news outlets for information. That is because I do not trust a lot of the crap that floods the Internet. When I spot a headline to a story I might like to read, and find that only paid subscribers are allowed to read it, I search for another version. I usually find what I am looking for without being charged and without signing on for “membership.”
And yes, I have been frustrated by the growing difficulty we face in researching information on various topics, especially in the areas of medicine and science. It seems that someone has a hand out demanding money at every turn.
With this in mind, imagine my delight in learning about Russian Neuroscientist Alexandra Elbakyan who hacked the Elsevier publishing house website and downloaded 48 million research journal articles – almost every peer-reviewed paper ever published – which she now offers free on her website called Sci-Hub.
She also offers free publication of new research papers.
She did this because she was unable to carry out her work having to pay Elsevier’s charge of $32 per paper.
Elbakyan is not alone in this issue. According to one article journal subscriptions have become so expensive that leading universities say they can no longer afford them. An estimated 15,000 researchers have joined in a vow to boycott Elsevier because of what they call "excessive paywall fees."
“Payment of $32 is just insane when you need to skim or read tens or hundreds of these papers to do research,” Elbakyan explained. “I obtained these papers by pirating them. Everyone should have access to knowledge regardless of their income or affiliation.”
Of course Elsevier has filed suit and a New York district judge has ordered the site taken down. But Elbakyan is fighting the order and since her site is posted via a foreign web host, and she is moving it whenever a site gets taken down. And there exists at least one companion site named LibGen.
A report by Fiona MacDonald in the website Torrent Freak notes that as of February, 2016, the case was still pending in the courts, with Elsevier suing Elbakyan for possibly millions of dollars in damages. A Google search on Feb. 25 reveals that Elsevier won its court case and the court forced Elbakyan and three or four companion sites to lose their domain names. They are not giving up, however. The information is popping up under new names. Click here.
Unlike litigation against the pirating of music, Elbakyan claims the publishing house should not accuse her of stealing for financial reasons, since the information pirated is offered free-of-charge to the public. But the publishing house is charging researchers to have their papers published, and then charging anyone wishing to read them.
“All papers on their website are written by researchers, and researchers do not receive money from what Elsevier collects,” Elbakyan said. “If Elsevier manages to shut down our projects or force them into the darknet, that will demonstrate an important idea: that the public does not have the right to knowledge.”
Fortunately Elbakyan is operating overseas and has no assets in the United States, so the chances of Elsevier collecting money or seizing property from litigation are almost impossible. Thus we cheer for Elbakyan’s courageous campaign against the greedy capitalistic system that would force important new research information into obscurity.
By James Donahue
I do not allow advertising on my website. I write my own stories and allow free access to the public. I pay for my web space and have chosen a program that is so easy to use a novice like me to design and publish my own pages. I do this because I am a retired writer living on a fixed income but I have work yet to be done before I cash in my chips. And I have a deep dislike for the crass way in which we are constantly bombarded commercialism wherever we turn.
Because I am a trained sociologist, historian and an experienced journalist I am also alarmed by the way the media now controls the thinking of the people. In an attempt to remain as objective as possible, I no longer watch television except for the advertisement-free programming that I purchase. I get my news on line but utilize certain news outlets for information. That is because I do not trust a lot of the crap that floods the Internet. When I spot a headline to a story I might like to read, and find that only paid subscribers are allowed to read it, I search for another version. I usually find what I am looking for without being charged and without signing on for “membership.”
And yes, I have been frustrated by the growing difficulty we face in researching information on various topics, especially in the areas of medicine and science. It seems that someone has a hand out demanding money at every turn.
With this in mind, imagine my delight in learning about Russian Neuroscientist Alexandra Elbakyan who hacked the Elsevier publishing house website and downloaded 48 million research journal articles – almost every peer-reviewed paper ever published – which she now offers free on her website called Sci-Hub.
She also offers free publication of new research papers.
She did this because she was unable to carry out her work having to pay Elsevier’s charge of $32 per paper.
Elbakyan is not alone in this issue. According to one article journal subscriptions have become so expensive that leading universities say they can no longer afford them. An estimated 15,000 researchers have joined in a vow to boycott Elsevier because of what they call "excessive paywall fees."
“Payment of $32 is just insane when you need to skim or read tens or hundreds of these papers to do research,” Elbakyan explained. “I obtained these papers by pirating them. Everyone should have access to knowledge regardless of their income or affiliation.”
Of course Elsevier has filed suit and a New York district judge has ordered the site taken down. But Elbakyan is fighting the order and since her site is posted via a foreign web host, and she is moving it whenever a site gets taken down. And there exists at least one companion site named LibGen.
A report by Fiona MacDonald in the website Torrent Freak notes that as of February, 2016, the case was still pending in the courts, with Elsevier suing Elbakyan for possibly millions of dollars in damages. A Google search on Feb. 25 reveals that Elsevier won its court case and the court forced Elbakyan and three or four companion sites to lose their domain names. They are not giving up, however. The information is popping up under new names. Click here.
Unlike litigation against the pirating of music, Elbakyan claims the publishing house should not accuse her of stealing for financial reasons, since the information pirated is offered free-of-charge to the public. But the publishing house is charging researchers to have their papers published, and then charging anyone wishing to read them.
“All papers on their website are written by researchers, and researchers do not receive money from what Elsevier collects,” Elbakyan said. “If Elsevier manages to shut down our projects or force them into the darknet, that will demonstrate an important idea: that the public does not have the right to knowledge.”
Fortunately Elbakyan is operating overseas and has no assets in the United States, so the chances of Elsevier collecting money or seizing property from litigation are almost impossible. Thus we cheer for Elbakyan’s courageous campaign against the greedy capitalistic system that would force important new research information into obscurity.