Elsevier Complaint Shuts Down SCI-HUB Domain Name by Ernesto.
From the post:
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However, as part of the injunction Elsevier is able to request domain name registrars to suspend Sci-Hub’s domain names. This happened to the original .org domain earlier, and a few days ago the Chinese registrar Now.cn appears to have done the same for Sci-hub.io.The domain name has stopped resolving and is now listed as “reserved” according to the latest WHOIS info. TorrentFreak reached out to Sci-Hub founder Alexandra Elbakyan, who informed us that the registrar sent her a notice referring to a complaint from Elsevier.
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In addition to the alternative domain names users can access the site directly through the IP-address 31.184.194.81, or its domain on the Tor-network, which is pretty much immune to any takedown efforts.
…Meanwhile, academic pirates continue to flood to Sci-Hub, domain seizure or not.
The best response to Elsevier is found in Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, Chapter 52
“If the law supposes that,” said Mr. Bumble, squeezing his hat emphatically in both hands, “the law is a ass- a idiot.”
I do disagree with Ernesto’s characterization of users of Sci-Hub as “academic pirates.”
Elsevier and others have fitted their business model to a system of laws that exploits the unpaid labor of academics, based on research funded by the public, profiting from sales to libraries and preventing wider access out of spite.
There is piracy going on in academic publishing but it isn’t on the part of those seeking to access published research.
Please share access points for Sci-Hub widely and often.