Extra Credit 2

The first speaker series that I attended discussed the issues of sci-hub, a database that holds scholarly articles and journals that was founded in 2011. When more than 58 million papers are available on sci-hub, it becomes an issue for publishers. This is because Publishers cannot charge for the access of copyrighted papers if sic-hub is publishing them. Sci-hub obtains these papers by receiving access from students or takes them without permission, which questions the legality of using this platform. When ethical issues were brought up, there was a huge discussion on whether it was okay to use this hub. And after this discussion, I believe that it is unethical to download these papers.

I think that this platform takes away from the research that universities do. The universities are only able to do so much when it comes to research papers and publishing because it is so expensive for them but sci-hub has no issues because they never have to pay for the copyrighted content. Although sci-hub doesn't store the information, it operates as a gateway to these papers. The issues with sci-hub include the following: the download is not safe, has a lack of privacy, there is a chance you can get in trouble from downloading, you can receive viruses. Although it lacks in those areas, one important area that it thrives on is that there is open access. This means they have the fastest way to access scholarly information to continue research and build on whats already there.

Ultimately, there are better ways to get the information you are looking for. Personally, I don't think using this platform is worth using especially when the UA database has customized services that can help you find what you need within an hour. And papers are often easier to find in the library interface. Plus, the information you are accessing is ethical and the work has not been stolen. Open access is great but not at the expense of unethically obtaining information.

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