Aaron Swartz faced more time in prison than people who commit heinous crimes

[mdk]

show of hands.... how many people knew about JSTOR before this thread popped up? I'm just curious. A lot of the responses I'm reading seem to have a misconception about what the site is, what it's for, and what kind of information is put there. Society as a whole has a moral obligation to protect this sort of academic enterprise, and trying to turn it into Wikipedia is essentially the most irresponsible form of theft imaginable -- theft that makes the entire world a stupider, shittier place. People dedicate their entire lives and careers to these articles.

[Kadaeux]

Yes. Taking knowledge and giving it to more people than it would ever have gotten to before hand truly makes the world a dumber place.



There is no moral obligation to help companies lock up articles where nobody will ever see them until such a time as said companies feel the time is right for said articles, and their subjects, to be most profitable.

People dedicating their entire lives and careers to something doesn't make it valuable.

[mdk]

A lot of the responses I'm reading seem to have a misconception about what the site is, what it's for, and what kind of information is put there.

^^

[★LunaLight★]

Yes. Taking knowledge and giving it to more people than it would ever have gotten to before hand truly makes the world a dumber place.

There is no moral obligation to help companies lock up articles where nobody will ever see them until such a time as said companies feel the time is right for said articles, and their subjects, to be most profitable.

People dedicating their entire lives and careers to something doesn't make it valuable.

JSTOR contains highly valuable information as mdk said. The reason it remains in JSTOR is to hold onto its credibility. If online versions are made, and funds for new development go away, the world will indeed become stupider, as the information as a whole will become less organized, less frequently made, less reliable, and I bet you anything that the number of people not already using databases wouldn't increase their use dramaticly. It is for the same reason the average person uses the internet for silly things, you need schooling and time to utilize the information effectively. Mdk is perfectly right. Stealing from JSTOR is irresponsible.

Btw, why do I detect the similarity between those against is being against businesses being protected? I personally prefer JSTOR remained in business... The debate about intellectual property is a whole different can of worms.