[Irtalk] In the Open Access Fight, Big Publishers Are the Biggest Hurdle | Electronic Frontier Foundation

[Hilton Gibson]

Sometime it's hard to believe that we are still arguing about open access
to publicly funded research. The issue is as clear as it gets: we paid for
the research; most researchers are devoted, by nature and profession, to
sharing their work; and the public benefits of open access can be
tremendous. So perhaps the right question is, why in the world don't we
already have free and open access to publicly funded research, including
the ability to not just read but reuse such works?

The answer is equally obvious: the lack of open access is a result of
strident opposition by giant academic publishers who treat this issue as
struggle for survival. And it is—especially if they will not give up their
legacy business models that, in the current climate, position them
more as *burdensome
middlemen and copyright bullies* than valuable contributors to the progress
of science.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/01/open-access-fight-big-publishers-are-biggest-hurdle
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