
The Research Pirates of the Dark Web - chewymouse
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/02/the-research-pirates-of-the-dark-web/461829/?single_page=true
======
dorianm
The Sci-Hub Tor URL is
[https://scihub22266oqcxt.onion](https://scihub22266oqcxt.onion) (source:
[https://vk.com/sci_hub?w=wall-36928352_5896](https://vk.com/sci_hub?w=wall-36928352_5896))

Image: [http://i.imgur.com/xZmDmPY.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/xZmDmPY.jpg)

~~~
lucastx
You pasted a HTTPS address, but the server doesn't answer to HTTPS (it is
somewhat redundant when you use onion services anyway). The correct one is
[http://scihub22266oqcxt.onion/](http://scihub22266oqcxt.onion/)

~~~
captainmuon
It's not redundant; if someone sets up a malicious exit node they can view all
your traffic, unless it is encrypted e.g. by SSL.

Of course for this kind of site that is not so important, but you shouldn't
use any kind of site where you log in or enter sensitive information over Tor
without HTTPS.

~~~
duskwuff
Traffic to .onion URLs is terminated within the Tor network. It doesn't pass
through exit nodes.

HTTPS is actually a bit redundant for .onion URLs, as the hostname is a
representation of the host's public key.

------
anc84
> the dark web, a part of the Internet often associated with drugs, weapons,
> and child porn.

Indeed, due to journalists perpetuating that meme on and on again. Thanks for
strengthening the bad image, Atlantic.

~~~
apozem
"The researchers, who have been studying and writing about encryption policy,
sniffed around with a Tor browser and found 1,547 out of 5,205 total websites
live on the dark web engaging in illegal activity."

It is one of the most common ways for distributing those three things, so yes,
that "meme" is correct.

[http://www.networkworld.com/article/3031661/internet/drugs-g...](http://www.networkworld.com/article/3031661/internet/drugs-
guns-and-hitmen-more-common-on-dark-web-than-religious-extremism.html)

~~~
fabulist
You think the most common way to distribute drugs, weapons, and child porn is
over Tor hidden services? I'm incredibly skeptical.

Doubtless a significant percentage of child porn is distributed that way, but
I'm under the impression they prefer to use Tor to access encrypted blobs
others host for them, like on Usenet. I've met many drug users, but only two
of them were even aware of hidden services. And however many guns are sold on
hidden services will never compare to the number purchased by the US military,
or sold at gun conventions, etc.

------
deathwarmedover
Really surprised this article makes no mention of Aaron Swartz and his battle
with JSTOR.

~~~
unixhero
This is the logical continuation of Aaron Swartz work. He should be mentioned.

~~~
anc84
Not to belittle Aaron but the Library Genesis is much older than his JSTOR
actions.

------
crazzzyraccoon
Why are the academics forced to publish their papers through these paywalls?
Hosting a PDF on the university website seems cheeper than going through these
publishers.

Are these university imposed rules? Are they forced to go through these
publishers if they want their paper peer reviewed and published in journals?

~~~
friendzis
To put it short: Academic "weight" works much like google - the more citations
paper has, the higher it is ranked. Of course a citation from local university
journal (probably every university has at least one) is worth much, _much_
less than a citation from Nature. It is calculated from Impact Factor, that is
in turn calculated from number of citations. Sort of a closed loop.

This would not be too much of a problem if not for funding. You see, funding,
that is necessary for anything non-trivial, is usually awarded according to
researcher's reputation - something again based on impact, citations, etc.

~~~
sevensor
It might even be more accurate to say that google works like academic "weight"
\-- it's my understanding that PageRank was originally intended to rank
research papers.

------
MKolchin
I use it almost everyday, it's even more convenient to search an article in
Google Scholar and then download a paper thorough Sci-Hub, than to use
Scopus.com or Web of Knowledge's search engine.

~~~
Touche
Do you get good results? I just tried it out and it most of the articles
didn't work. I'm hoping it's just because of a traffic spike.

~~~
MKolchin
Do you search by article name or DOI or link? I prefer DOI, because, I guess,
it easier for the engine to find a paper. In 95% cases I find a needed paper
by DOI.

~~~
0x4a42
What DOI means?

~~~
Kristine1975
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_object_identifier](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_object_identifier)

 _A digital object identifier (DOI) is a serial code used to uniquely identify
objects. The DOI system is particularly used for electronic documents such as
journal articles._

------
Estragon
Has anyone successfully found something useful which they couldn't find
elsewhere using this tool? I tried it on a few things yesterday and was
disappointed.

~~~
gwern
I would say easily a third the time I need a paper, I'll have to get it
through Libgen, and especially if a paper is new or published through Elsevier
or Nature. (If you've read through my comments and noticed me posting Dropbox
links to fulltext PDFs - Libgen in action.) It's also good for older papers
pre-2000 where it's unlikely the author has put up a copy or someone else has
hosted it, and finally, it's good for getting finalized copies of papers as
published since preprints often change quite a bit (economics papers in
particular seem to spend years hanging around going through many versions
which can change conclusions dramatically).

------
kefka
I find the way TOR is used lacking. I really would like to have .Onion
resolution across my whole system (in my case, I extensively use Linux). So,
Here's a way to do just that:

I use a significant amount of HiddenServices to communicate back and forth
with my machines. My eventual goal was to be able to process data from
different geographical areas and have them inserted into MQTT via Node-Red.
Until now, it was all or nothing with regards to proxy settings.

I have figured that out. For those that want to integrate seamless .onion
usage across the whole of Node-Red (and every other Linux program), follow
this.

get the following packages (Ubuntu, Debian)

    
    
        sudo apt-get install tor iptables dnsmasq dnsutils
    
    
     

Add the following to the /etc/tor/torrc file

    
    
        VirtualAddrNetworkIPv4 10.192.0.0/10
        AutomapHostsOnResolve 1
        TransPort 9040
        DNSPort 53
        DNSListenAddress 127.0.0.2
    
    

Restart TOR

    
    
        sudo service tor restart
    
    

Edit /etc/dnsmasq.conf and add the following:

    
    
        listen-address=127.0.0.1
        resolv-file=/etc/realresolv.conf
        server=/onion/127.0.0.2
    
    

Make a new file, called /etc/realresolv.conf . Add this in the file:

    
    
        nameserver 107.170.95.180
        nameserver 8.8.8.8
    
    

Restart DNSmasq:

    
    
        sudo service dnsmasq restart
    
    

Run the IPtables firewall update for redirection

    
    
        sudo iptables -t nat -A OUTPUT -p tcp -d 10.192.0.0/10 -j REDIRECT --to-ports 9040
    
    

Also, this script must be run at every boot, so add this in /etc/rc.local,
ABOVE the "exit 0"

    
    
        /sbin/iptables -t nat -A OUTPUT -p tcp -d 10.192.0.0/10 -j REDIRECT --to-ports 9040
    
    
    

Once you do those things, your whole Linux sustem will be able to resolve
.onion addresses seamlessly, yet leaving alone canonical address schemes. this
means that you can talk with a MQTT-out on an .onion, or control remote
servers via exec node and SSH. And since you don't have to poke holes through
firewalls, networking between Hidden Nodes with Node-Red sitting on top makes
IoT sensor capture from remote areas (Work, home, car, hackerspace) very easy.

Of course, this does not discuss how to actually add a new hidden service You
should think very hard before enabling a service: Make sure there is good
authentication on them along with the newest updates. There is no determining
origination on these kinds of attacks.

cite: [http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-
networking-3/h...](http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-
networking-3/how-to-access-the-darknet-tor-network-4175553338/) , Have
confirmed directions work flawlessly on Ubuntu 14.04, 15.04, and 15.10
(various flavors of Ubuntu, XUbuntu, KUbuntu)

~~~
RachelF
Thank you, an interesting approach.

------
yk
Somehow I believe that thing could have an awesome forum. (But alas, it does
not have one.)

