[Open-access] How to Block Readcube and Why

Fri Mar 20 09:52:16 UTC 2015

This is appalling.

You/we should send an account to RLUK and LIBER and SPARC at least.

On Fri, Mar 20, 2015 at 9:45 AM, Ross Mounce <ross.mounce at gmail.com> wrote:

> This has nothing to do with hybrid open access-ness per se - although,
> importing hybrid open access CC BY rights-unencumbered articles into a DRM
> system is pretty sinister re-enclosure IMO.
>
> All articles via the "get PDF" link -> Readcube whether they are closed
> access, fauxpen access or hybrid open access.
>
>
Does this mean that subscribers now cannot print or save the paper by
default?

> I fear some readers will now be tricked into using Readcube, not realising
> the rights they are giving-up, and that their reading habits & annotations
> may now be tracked.
>

Yes. Snoop and Control.

>
> Wiley have basically rolled-out Readcube as the default for 'PDF' across
> 1100 of their journals (all?). Readers did not ask them to do this and I
> suspect were not properly consulted.
>

Nor librarians who sign the contract. But they probably signed a contract
which says "the publishers can make any changes they like at any time"

>
> They use JavaScript to re-write all "Get PDF" links displayed on article
> landing pages to direct to Readcube rather than actual PDF. If you have the
> rights to, you can download PDF, but only from within the Readcube system.
> One is effectively forced to go through Readcube to access PDF.
>
> But if you turn off JavaScript the "get PDF" links revert back to going
> directly to real PDF.
>

But now you have found this loophole they'l close iy

>
>
> Non-consenting coercion of Readcube-use is just plain wrong. Not to
> mention false advertising - "get PDF" -> Readcube is not anyone's
> definition of "get PDF".
>

Agreed.

It's time to make a stand.

>
> Best,
>
> Ross
>
>
> On 20 March 2015 at 09:33, Peter Murray-Rust <
> peter.murray.rust at googlemail.com> wrote:
>
>> Does this apply to all papers or only to hybrid Open Access? In either
>> case I would expect that it is a change in the conditions of the contract -
>> that the publisher is sending an unacceptable substandard product.
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Mar 19, 2015 at 10:34 PM, Ross Mounce <ross.mounce at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Dear Friends,
>>>
>>> You may have noticed recently that at some, all(?) Wiley journals, the
>>> "get PDF" links have been forcibly, non-consentingly redirecting readers to
>>> the Readcube version of the article, NOT the PDF file.
>>>
>>> I have written a practical guide on 'How to Block Readcube and Why' to
>>> explain how to get the direct, one-click link to the real PDF back again
>>> (by disabling JavaScript on site). Please share this with friends if you
>>> know they are similarly inconvenienced by this issue:
>>>
>>> http://rossmounce.co.uk/2015/03/19/how-to-block-readcube-and-why/
>>>
>>> I have also cross-posted to The Winnower, at which you can download a
>>> copy of this post in PDF format to enable easy offline sharing with others:
>>> https://thewinnower.com/papers/how-to-block-readcube-and-why
>>>
>>> Best,
>>>
>>> Ross
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> --
>>> -/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
>>> Ross Mounce, PhD
>>> Fossils, Phylogeny and Macroevolution Research Group
>>> University of Bath, 4 South Building, Lab 1.07
>>> http://about.me/rossmounce
>>> -/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> open-access mailing list
>>> open-access at lists.okfn.org
>>> https://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/open-access
>>> Unsubscribe: https://lists.okfn.org/mailman/options/open-access
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Peter Murray-Rust
>> Reader in Molecular Informatics
>> Unilever Centre, Dep. Of Chemistry
>> University of Cambridge
>> CB2 1EW, UK
>> +44-1223-763069
>>
>
>
>
> --
> --
> -/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
> Ross Mounce
> Fossils, Phylogeny and Macroevolution Research Group
> University of Bath, 4 South Building, Lab 1.07
> http://about.me/rossmounce
> -/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
>

-- 
Peter Murray-Rust
Reader in Molecular Informatics
Unilever Centre, Dep. Of Chemistry
University of Cambridge
CB2 1EW, UK
+44-1223-763069
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.okfn.org/pipermail/open-access/attachments/20150320/b30359d1/attachment-0002.html>