Is it illegal for someone in the USA to access Sci-Hub?
<p><a href="http://sci-hub.io/" rel="nofollow">Sci-Hub</a> self-describes as "the first pirate website in the world to provide mass and public access to tens of millions of research papers". A Russian researcher posted most of the academic research publications that are usually behind expensive paywalls.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Is it illegal for people in the USA to access it?</p></li>
<li><p>If a DA wanted to prosecute someone for going and reading things from Sci-Hub, would they have a case?</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Copyright in the US is usually a civil matter. Meaning that the copyright owner can sue (typically for money damages or injunctive relief) an infringer. </p>

<p>The criminal laws that we have are aimed at the reproducer and/or distributor. </p>

<p>In other words, chances are that you won't get in any criminal trouble for accessing academic articles of dubious origin. But never say never. RIP Aaron Schwartz. </p>

united-states copyright intellectual-property