[IRTalk] Open access: All human knowledge is there—so why can’t everybody access it? | Ars Technica UK

[Hilton Gibson]

There's another factor that renders Elsevier's attempt to turn back the
clock, and make Sci-Hub's complete and easy-to-use library disappear, quite
futile. It's the same thing that kick-started the whole open-access
revolution in the first place: the advance of digital technology.

As the price of storage continues to fall, and capacities increase, in the
not-too-distant future it will be possible for most people to have a local
copy of every academic paper ever written if they wish to. *The question
is: will publishers help to realise this digital version of Anthony
Panizzi's magnificent, egalitarian vision of 1836, or will they stubbornly
remain on the wrong side of history by continuing to resist it?*

http://arstechnica.co.uk/science/2016/06/what-is-open-access-free-sharing-of-all-human-knowledge/
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