News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Sci-Hub statistics and database by joshuaissac on Saturday February 12, 2022 @02:52PM (#30315717)
> I also don't understand why the Indian court case has any impact on new article availability. The owner is not Indian. The servers and domains are not Indian.

Because Sci-Hub has a good chance of winning the case. The court in question has previously backed a very broad definition of what constitutes fair dealing.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Oxford_v._Rame...

Re:Sci-Hub statistics and database by Ansil849 on Saturday February 12, 2022 @02:54PM (#30315736)
> Because Sci-Hub has a good chance of winning the case.

I understand that this is the party line that is parroted whenever this issue comes up, but it does not make any sense as a rationale for keeping new articles off the site. How is not adding any new articles (but, for example, keeping old articles accessible) assisting the possible winning of the case? And more to the point, why does it matter at all if it wins or loses the case? As stated, neither the owner or the infrastructure is Indian, so of what relevancy is this jurisdiction?

And further still, the case appears to have been delayed indefinitely. That last update claims that there was going to be an update a few days ago, but there was not. The proceedings are just now a list of one postponement after another [1]. Given that new articles are being held hostage, it thus very obviously benefits the legal system and the prosecution to continue to delay the case indefinitely.

[1] https://delhihighcourt.nic.in/dhc_case_status_oj_list.asp?pn...

Re:Sci-Hub statistics and database by sa1 on Saturday February 12, 2022 @03:23PM (#30316021)
The owner might not be Indian, but she's actively defending the case(through lawyers) in India. Not following the injunction would lead her to losing the case, which is why she followed through. She didn't have to fight the case in India, but she chose to. Why keep old papers and stop adding new papers - that probably depends on the terms of the injunction.
Re:Sci-Hub statistics and database by Ansil849 on Saturday February 12, 2022 @03:29PM (#30316072)
> Why keep old papers and stop adding new papers - that probably depends on the terms of the injunction.

As per the official tweet that has already been mentioned in this thread [1]:

> how about the lawsuit in India you may ask: our lawyers say that restriction is expired already

So according to the owner's official Twitter, this is no longer a valid reason, and yet new papers are still not accessible. Why is that?

[1] https://mobile.twitter.com/ringo_ring/status/143435621720862...

Re:Sci-Hub statistics and database by sa1 on Saturday February 12, 2022 @03:41PM (#30316181)
Haven't got around to adding yet?
Re:Sci-Hub statistics and database by Ansil849 on Saturday February 12, 2022 @04:07PM (#30316482)
That is not how scihub used to function. Scihub used to have an engine, named Plato, which would fetch papers automatically if not already in their database. For the last year now, this essential service has not been operational. This is what the issue I am raising is about.
Re:Sci-Hub statistics and database by justsomehnguy on Saturday February 12, 2022 @08:26PM (#30318196)
> this essential service

Give man a fish and he will praise you for a day. Give man a spinning and he will bitch at you because it is not a fish.

Re:Sci-Hub statistics and database by sa1 on Saturday February 12, 2022 @04:14PM (#30316555)
It's clear what you're talking about. Software bitrots over time. Plato might need fixes, might have a huge backlog, lots of stuff can happen.
Re:Sci-Hub statistics and database by liketochill on Sunday February 13, 2022 @08:45PM (#30327562)
I still have airgapped windows xp systems with one software package on them to do one job. Left alone Software doesn’t bit rot, it is the never ending stream of updates that cause it to cease working over time.
Re:Sci-Hub statistics and database by sa1 on Monday February 14, 2022 @12:58AM (#30328821)
Think about it. Software like Plato downloads papers from around the web. If the environment around software (i.e the web) changes, software without updates bitrots.