In reply to Manoel Galdino.

Manoel

Absolutely agree with what you're saying here. But also I think you're
objections also have parallels in the open foo world. So let me take a
devils advocate position without necessarily saying I completely agree with
these positions.

1. The counter argument that is often used is that without that theft and
subsequent preservation most of these objects would have been lost (Not
saying I agree with that, just that its an argument that gets used!).
Equally in the digital world there have commonly been problems where the
only way to effectively preserve something is to "steal" it. Supplementary
data in journals comes to mind where the record of preservation is poor.
Arguably the internet archive is a mass copyright violator. At least online
you're not taking the object away from it initial place.

2. Actually I suspect in grand British tradition the policy is not even
written down, but that's another issue. This is not disimilar to the complex
and often misguided use of licences and terms of service online. In many
cases with the scholarly literature it is actually impossible to figure out
what you are allowed to do with something. Policy and legal situation often
don't match up and technical means (which are often not public) are
sometimes used to enforce policies that are not supported by legal
situation.

3. Yes, although entering the UK is easier than almost any other country
I've tried to get into (as a non-UK national). But this is not disimilar to
the online world. You need access to a computer, you need decent access to
the web/internet. As the Budapest declaration says "open access...is
unrestricted...aside from those requirements indivisible from access to the
open internet..." Anyone in Cuba, large parts of Africa, South East Asia, or
in places where the internet is heavily censored such as China or
potentially Australia simply can't get access no matter what we do. That
access issue is to me a separate one from the one of access if you are on
the internet. It's a big problem but its not one I'm game to take on at the
moment.

I do take your point, and I originally thought about using the British
Library as my example (although I'm not sure its any better) but that seemed
a bit obvious.