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From:
LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
LibLicense-L Discussion Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 7 Mar 2016 17:33:53 -0500
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From: "Jean-Claude Guédon" <[log in to unmask]>

To Richard, calling Sci-hub a form of civil disobedience is ludicrous;
to others like me, it is conceivable. Only time will tell. But civil
disobedience is not the only available metaphor. Perhaps it is a form
of direct action, or of guerrilla warfare. Many images are available
to apprehend such a situation. Robin Hood is another possibility
(http://bigthink.com/neurobonkers/a-pirate-bay-for-science ).

For those who are interested in how Alexandra Elbakyan characterizes
Sci-hub, check:

https://engineuring.wordpress.com/2016/02/24/why-sci-hub-is-the-true-solution-for-open-access-reply-to-criticism/

Whether Sci-hub is civil disobedience, guerrilla warfare, Robin
Hood-style redistribution, etc. or not is really beside the point.

The point is that Sci-hub exists and, apparently, it is difficult to
shut it down. Whatever anyone may think about it and what it means, it
exists. In such a situation, there are only two possible attitudes:
learn to live with it, or try destroying it. The latter, at least for
the moment, appears difficult.

Collectively, we should certainly reflect on what is motivating a
large number of people finding deep faults with the present system of
scientific communication and trying to correct these faults in a
variety of ways. Some of these ways may be more controversial or less
acceptable than others, but even  they do not affect the validity of
the complaints about the situation. Gandhi achieved the independence
of India through non-violent means, and that is why he is justly
celebrated, but the bottom line was the independence of India, not
Gandhi's non-violent tactics.

--
Jean-Claude Guédon

Professeur titulaire
Littérature comparée
Université de Montréal


Le dimanche 06 mars 2016 à 12:53 -0500, LIBLICENSE a écrit :
From: Richard <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, 4 Mar 2016 08:29:49 -0500

re. item 4: can we please stop pretending that raiding publishers to
provide free content in order to relieve researchers of the burden of
having to place ILL requests is in any way comparable to MLK or
Ghandi? It is a ludicrous comparison

Richard

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