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French ISPs Ordered To Block Sci-Hub, LibGen (torrentfreak.com)
The High Court of Paris has ordered several of the largest French ISPs to block access to the pirate libraries LibGen and Sci-Hub. "The decision is a setback for the sites that have come under increasing pressure, but Sci-Hub founder Alexandra Elbakyan believes that determined researchers are smart enough to find an alternative route to her site," reports TorrentFreak. From the report: Following a complaint from academic publishers Elsevier and Springer Nature, Internet providers Bouygues, Free, Orange, and SFR have been ordered (PDF) to block access to Sci-Hub and LibGen sites for the year to come. In its decision, picked up by Next INpact, the French court ruled that the two sites "clearly claim to be pirate platforms rejecting the principle of copyright and bypassing publishers' subscription access portals."
The court order targets a total of 57 domain names, including various mirror sites. The academic publishers had asked the court for a more flexible blocklist, which they could update whenever new domains would become available, but this was denied. If the publishers want to expand the blocklist, they will have to go back to court. This ensures that there remains judicial oversight over local website blockades. Also, a request for a specific IP-address block was denied. The court sided with the ISPs, who argued that they should have the freedom to choose their own blocking method, including DNS blocking. That does mean, however, that the ISPs will also have to bear the costs. "The blockade will have some effect, though not very profound," says Sci-Hub founder Alexandra Elbakya. "The people who are using Sci-Hub because they need access to research can still unblock it using VPN, TOR and etc."
The court order targets a total of 57 domain names, including various mirror sites. The academic publishers had asked the court for a more flexible blocklist, which they could update whenever new domains would become available, but this was denied. If the publishers want to expand the blocklist, they will have to go back to court. This ensures that there remains judicial oversight over local website blockades. Also, a request for a specific IP-address block was denied. The court sided with the ISPs, who argued that they should have the freedom to choose their own blocking method, including DNS blocking. That does mean, however, that the ISPs will also have to bear the costs. "The blockade will have some effect, though not very profound," says Sci-Hub founder Alexandra Elbakya. "The people who are using Sci-Hub because they need access to research can still unblock it using VPN, TOR and etc."
Elsevier and Springer Nature should be boycotted by authors and readers alike. They are parasites leeching off the work of others. They actively work to interfere with efforts to minimize the harm that they do. It is time we use the internet to eliminate the scientific community's need of there services.
The decision is a setback for the sites that have come under increasing pressure,
No, it is not a setback for those sites. They don't gain anything by people using them, and don't lose anything by getting blocked. It is a setback for all the scientists and scientifically minded people who cannot afford the exorbitant fees the journals charge, and now have more barriers to accessing (largely publicly funded) research results.
"Actual scientist"? More like actual Elsevier astroturfer.
I get merit pay increases and bonuses in my salary for publishing papers
No, you don't. Also, you don't publish.
covered under my salary
Yes, because you're paid by Elsevier.
Nope journal provides free access to the author.
LOL. You've never dealt with a "scientific" publisher as an author.
Fees I neither pay nor worry about.
Because you're not a scientist who depends on the budget of an institution, but an Elsevier astroturfer.
Nobody relevant in my field publishes in an open access journal.
Naturally. I didn't know astroturfing had them anyway.
in certain areas of field the work is classified or access controlled and it is illegal to publish in a journal of any type
Yours is an interesting field, you simultaneously publish and do not publish. Are you in quantum astroturfing?