Tired of seeing [abstract only] on SoylentNews? Try searching for the title on the Library Genesis search engine.
TorrentFreak reports that the academic publishing giant Elsevier has filed a complaint in a New York District Court to attempt to shut down the Library Genesis and SciHub.org search engines:
According to Elsevier the company is losing revenue because of these sites, so in order to stem the tide the publisher has filed a complaint [PDF] at a New York federal court hoping to shut them down.
"Defendants are reproducing and distributing unauthorized copies of Elsevier's copyrighted materials, unlawfully obtained from ScienceDirect, through Sci-Hub and through various websites affiliated with the Library Genesis Project," the complaint reads. "Specifically, Defendants utilize their websites located at sci-hub.org and at the Libgen Domains to operate an international network of piracy and copyright infringement by circumventing legal and authorized means of access to the ScienceDirect database," it adds.
According to Elsevier, the websites access articles by using unlawfully obtained student or faculty access credentials. The articles are then added to the "pirate" library, backed up on their own servers.
Tom Allen, President of the Association of American Publishers (AAP), informs TF that websites such as Libgen pose a threat to the quality of scientific publications, as well as the public health. "Scholarly publishers work to ensure the accuracy of the scientific record by issuing corrections and revisions to research findings as needed; Libgen typically does not," Allen says. "As a result, its repository of illegally obtained content poses a threat to both quality journal publishing and to public health and safety."
The court has yet to decide whether the injunctions should be granted, but considering outcomes in recent piracy cases there's a good chance this will happen. For the time being, however, the Libgen and Sci-hub websites remain online.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 10 2015, @03:10PM
Ah, sort of the "think of the children" argument.
What say you about all the non-scientific stuff they put up too? Poor budding enthusiastic underprivileged scientists need their free manga too?
(Score: 2) by CRCulver on Wednesday June 10 2015, @03:41PM
The e-book section of LibGen is separate from its scientific paper archive and search functionality.
(Though I have no problem with e-book sharing. It's wonderful that we live in an age where one can consume as much art as one desires regardless of one's financial means.)