Academic publishers want Sci-Hub wiped from the Internet, but thus far their efforts have failed. While several of the site's domain names were suspended in recent weeks, it appears as if the controversy is only drawing more traffic. And with plenty of alternatives in hand, it's turning into a Pirate Bay-esque game of domain name Whack-a-Mole.

Sci-Hub is often referred to as the “Pirate Bay of Science,” and this description has become more and more apt in recent weeks.

Initially, the comparison was made to illustrate that Sci-Hub is used by researchers to download articles for free, much like the rest of the world uses The Pirate Bay to get free stuff.

There are more parallels though. Increasingly, Sci-Hub has trouble keeping its domain names. Following two injunctions in the US, academic publishers now have court orders to compel domain registrars and registries to suspend Sci-Hub’s addresses.

Although there is no such court order for The Pirate Bay, the notorious torrent site also has a long history of domain suspensions.

Both sites appear to tackle the problem in a similar manner. They simply ignore all enforcement efforts and bypass them with new domains and other circumvention tools. They have several backup domains in place as well as unsuspendable .onion addresses, which are accessible on the Tor network.

Since late November, a lot of Sci-Hub users have switched to Sci-Hub.bz when other domains were suspended. And, when the .bz domain was targeted a few days ago, they moved to different alternatives. It’s a continuous game of Whack-a-Mole that is hard to stop.

Suspended…



There’s another striking similarity between TPB and Sci-Hub. Unlike other pirate sites, their founders are both vocal. In the case of Sci-Hub this is Alexandra Elbakyan, a researcher born and graduated in Kazakhstan.

She recently responded to people who had trouble accessing the site. “The site is working properly, but the capitalists have started blocking Sci-Hub domains, so the site may not be accessible at the regular addresses,” she wrote on VK.

Instead of complaining, Elbakyan encouraged people to do some research of their own, as there are still plenty of alternative domains up and running. And indeed, at the time of writing Sci-hub.la, Sci-hub.tv, Sci-hub.tw, Sci-hub.hk, and others can be accessed without any hassle.

While Sci-Hub’s classification as the “Pirate Bay of Science” is certainly warranted, there are also differences. The Pirate Bay was raided several times and the founders were criminally prosecuted. That’s not the case for Sci-Hub.

But who knows what will happen next…