The BBC is reporting that the UK police—actually The City of London’s Intellectual Property Crime Unit—is warning students not to use Sci-Hub. You might assume, as I did, that their warning said something along the lines of, “Using the site is illegal and you could be prosecuted” but that’s not what the warning said. Rather, it said, in effect, that using it put you in jeopardy of being hacked.
They urged universities to block the site because Sci-Hub would try to steal user credentials in order to steal more papers. There are a couple of things wrong with that. First, universities already have subscriptions to most of the important journals and that extends to online access for students and staff. There’s really no reason—other than convenience, perhaps—for university students to be using Sci-Hub, especially not from university computers. Second, I know of no evidence that Sci-Hub is stealing credentials in order to get more papers. Their “business” model is that those with access voluntarily upload papers to them. Of course, it may be that they are stealing credentials but you’d think there’d be some reports of it.
Then the police say that those who have had their Twitter accounts suspended are particularly likely to have their credentials stolen by Sci-Hub. This is probably another example of the press getting a story wrong because it makes no sense. What does one thing have to do with the other?
Assuming the BBC has the story right—not at all a sure thing—this whole episode is an embarrassment to the UK police force. Of course, this is the same organization that warned people not to make fun of a fugitive’s hair. One could be forgiven for not taking anything they say seriously.