When the resource being abused by sci-hub (a university&#x27;s ezproxy server, via a hacked or shared user account) is shut down by publisher locking out a whole university because an account downloaded 10000 papers over a week-end, there is a real loss. It is not a theoretical moral quandary.<p>Obviously, the loss is kind of abstract for the publisher but it isn&#x27;t for the small college that spends half or more of its annual acquisition budget on journal subscriptions and is then locked out of what it spent tens or hundreds of thousands on (depending strictly on which publisher locked them out until they can demonstrate that abuse as been shut down.)<p>Sure, if you&#x27;re Hardvard or Stanford library, you can play hardball with the publisher and get your access restored immediately but if you&#x27;re a small institution, someone&#x27;s week in the library just got ruined to satisfy the platform owner that abuse has been shut down... For now. It really hurts the small institutions who can least afford it.