Alexandra Elbakyan: Sci-Hub, Open Data, Freedom of Information & the Democratization of Science |#57

Nick talks to Alexandra Elbakyan, the founder of Sci-hub, a shadow library website that provides free access to millions of research papers and books, without regard to copyright, by bypassing publishers' paywalls in various ways. Sci-hub is used by millions of people around the world each month, granting them free and easy access to scientific research findings.

Nick spoke to Alexandra about how Sci-hub works, why she built it, and some of the legal challenges she has faced from large scientific publishing corporations. This conversation was conducted with a professional Russian-English translator, whose voice you will hear in the recording in place of Alexandra's.

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0:00:00 Episode Intro
0:05:10 Alexandra Elbakyan Intro
0:08:03 Why was Sci-hub created?
0:12:33 Multi-billion dollar publishing industry
0:18:10 What would be lost without Sci-hub?
0:24:48 How many people run Sci-hub?
0:32:42 What Alexandra does beyond Sci-hub
0:36:12 Has Sci-hub been restricted on social media?