• Access, ethics and piracy

    Author(s):
    Stuart Lawson (see profile)
    Date:
    2017
    Subject(s):
    Open access publishing
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    piracy, Open access, Scholarly communication
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M62V24
    Abstract:
    Ownership of intellectual property rights for a large proportion of the scholarly record is held by publishers, so a majority of journal articles are behind paywalls and unavailable to most people. As a result some readers are encouraged to use pirate websites such as Sci-Hub to access them, a practice that is alternately regarded as criminal and unethical or as a justified act of civil disobedience. This article considers both the efficacy and ethics of piracy, placing ‘guerrilla open access’ within a longer history of piracy and access to knowledge. By doing so, it is shown that piracy is an inevitable part of the intellectual landscape that can render the current intellectual property regime irrelevant. If we wish to actively construct a true scholarly commons, open access emerges as a contender for moving beyond proprietary forms of commodifying scholarly knowledge towards the creation of an open scholarly communication system that is fit for purpose.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    http://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.333
    Publisher:
    Ubiquity Press, Ltd.
    Pub. Date:
    2017-3-8
    Journal:
    Insights the UKSG journal
    Volume:
    30
    Issue:
    1
    Page Range:
    25 - 30
    ISSN:
    2048-7754
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    6 years ago
    License:
    All-Rights-Granted
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