They compare SciHub to Napster. I have news for U.S. Corporate giants - this is no Napster. For one, this isn&#x27;t downloading what is essentially entertainment. This is downloading serious content without which researchers and students couldn&#x27;t help the world progress in positive and vital ways. Secondly, a lot of this content wasn&#x27;t funded by the ones publishing it, and it shows in the comments every time this gets broached because almost every writer whose work is published tells the same story - they didn&#x27;t get paid by the publisher and all they are doing is preventing their work from being distributed to the widest audience possible.<p>Thirdly, this time the bullies can&#x27;t touch those who are distributing the work. One of the consequences of the pervasive reach of the Internet is that if pirated material falls outside of the jurisdiction of a nation that strictly endorses its copyright law then there is virtually nothing that nation can do about it.<p>When Carmen Ortiz and Stephen Heymann prosecuted Aaron Swartz they thought they had struck a blow for copyright holders everywhere. And they did for a few years. Under three years later, however, the rules of the game changed and this time there is no one they could easily prosecute, because they are outside of their grasp and there is no way to persecute them, or make an example of them.<p>The established order has changed. Those who should have known better, who should have put conditions on publicly financed research to be open to all instead allowed greedy and amoral companies like Elsevier to take the hard work of others and sell it for a profit, giving almost nothing back to the system they are pillaging. Too late they choose to open the door slightly ajar to make those on the outside think they will be granted access, only to slam that door shut before they can get inside. Too late do they realise that a gentleman thief has broken in and distributed their ill-gotten gains to the ones they stole from.<p>Those who ruthlessly pursued the Aaron Swartz&#x27;s of the world have finally been undone. Their arrogance and rapacity blinded them to the reality that they cannot deny information to the world. They did not heed the words of those who enabled the digital revolution. This struggle was predicted by Stewart Brand in 1984, who said to Steve Wozniak at the first Hackers Conference in Marin County, San Francisco:<p>&quot;On the one hand, information wants to be expensive because it&#x27;s so valuable.  The right information in the right place just changes your life.  On the other hand, information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is lower and lower all the time.  So you have these two things fighting against each other.&quot; [1]<p>That tension continues, but the old guard is now fighting a rear guard action. They will fight back, but they will remain in retreat until one day they give up, or are forced to and information becomes free. On that day be thankful, because the bindings of the ones who wish to shackle your mind and creativity will have lost the power to do so, to the incalculable good of humanity.<p>1. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.edge.org&#x2F;documents&#x2F;archive&#x2F;edge338.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.edge.org&#x2F;documents&#x2F;archive&#x2F;edge338.html</a>