Comment by silver_sun
11 days ago
>The public might donate food to the poor. That doesn't give them the right to go into their house and rummage through their fridge.
I think a better analogy for this situation is: The public donates food, then the recipient, after being fed, sells access to (infinite cheaply replicable copies of) said food for a profit. The public in this case just wants to have said food.
Maybe we are better off avoiding the analogies.
The public gives them cash for terms of a grant. If those dont include an open access paper, it is unreasonable to demand it after the fact. It certainly doesn't give a right to go take take their papers (or whatever they made).
There's some common-sense understanding of this situation that I'm not sure you're wilfully overlooking or oblivious to. The claim is that it's unjust to blatantly exploit a system that was intended to fund/sustain you, for profit. It's not necessarily illegal behavior since "open access" was not in the terms, but how can it possibly be morally defensible that they have managed to find a way to legally subvert/trick the system for their own benefit? An overly pedantic view of the situation isn't helpful.
Its not subversion or a trick. It is reasonable and functioning as intended.
There was no deception or trick. It was 100% up front and what those involved expected.
There is no moral failing aside from those stealing and spreading outrage.