EXACTLY. Academic publishing is actually kind of insane. It’s not like buying the paper even funds the research, it just goes to the publisher… and sure, you could argue that they do a service by basically being a muster point for peer review… but it just feels SO WRONG to put research (especially public funded research) behind a paywall.

The case for movies and games is absolutely a more contentious issue, but there are some similar arguments for the current system being a little dated (especially with respect to copyright law and how long it takes before works enter the public domain). All things being equal (e.g., assuming the creators can still make a living) the more people who have access the better! Of course it’s far less important that you can watch the latest movies or whatever (vs somebody accessing a research paper about a disease they have or something), but it’s still a bit of a shame to restrict access, and it feels like your ability to own copies of media is being eroded over time… And maybe that is worth caring about a little bit?