08 January 2015

605. Posting your own academic articles on your website (self-archiving)

I've been meaning to put copies of my own articles on my departmental website, but haven't had time to look into the legal aspects until now.

The publishers that matter to me in order are Wiley, ACS, RSC, Elsevier, and Taylor and Francis.

Here are their policies:

Wiley (also see this)
Under Wiley copyright, authors are permitted to self-archive the peer-reviewed (but not final) version of a contribution on the contributor's personal website, [..], subject to an embargo period of 12 months for scientific, technical, and medical (STM) journals [..] following publication of the final contribution. Authors should be aware that Wiley’s society partners set policies independently, and authors should refer to individual journal pages as the authority on copyright policy.
Summary: you can post the article version containing improvements following peer-review twelve months after it was published online (my interpretation), but you can't post the galley proof, on your own website.

Elsevier
Accepted Author Manuscript (AAM) Definition: An accepted author manuscript (AAM) is the author’s version of the manuscript of an article that has been accepted for publication and which may include any author-incorporated change s suggested through the processes of submission processing, peer review, and editor-author communications. AAMs do not include other publisher value-added contributions such as copy-editing, formatting, technical enhancements and (if relevant) pagination. Elsevier's AAM Policy: Authors retain the right to use the accepted author manuscript for personal use, internal institutional use and for permitted scholarly posting provided that these are not for purposes of commercial use or systematic distribution. [..] Permitted scholarly posting: Voluntary posting by an author on open websites operated by the author or the author’s institution for scholarly purposes, as determined by the author, or (in connection with preprints) on preprint servers.
Summary: you can post the article version containing improvements following peer-review on your own website as long as it's not for commercial purposes.

Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
When the author accepts the exclusive Licence to Publish for a journal article, he/she retains certain rights concerning the deposition of the whole article. He/she may: [..] Make available the PDF of the final published article via the personal website(s) of the author(s) or via the Intranet(s) of the organisation(s) where the author(s) work(s). No embargo period applies. [..] Deposition of the article on any website acting as a collection of personal articles from multiple scientists is explicitly prohibited.
Surprisingly, it sounds like it's actually OK to upload the version which is found on the RSC website -- which sounds too good to be true. Be your own judge.

American Chemical Society (ACS) (but also this)
Note that ACS does not grant permission for these materials or provide the following:
However, on page 6 here:
6. Posting Submitted Works on Websites and Repositories: A digital file of the Submitted Work may be made publicly available on websites or repositories (e.g. the Author’s personal website, preprint servers, university networks or primary employer’s institutional websites, third party institutional or subject-based repositories, and conference websites that feature presentations by the Author(s) based on the Submitted Work) under the following conditions: * The Author(s) have received written confirmation (via letter or email) from the appropriate ACS journal editor that the posting does not conflict with journal prior publication/embargo policies (see http://pubs.acs.org/page/policy/prior/index.html ) * The posting must be for non-commercial purposes and not violate the ACS' "Ethical Guidelines to Publication of Chemical Research" (see http://pubs.acs.org/ethics ). * If the Submitted Work is accepted for publication in an ACS journal, then the following notice should be included at the time of posting, or the posting amended as appropriate: "This document is the unedited Author’s version of a Submitted Work that was subsequently accepted for publication in [JournalTitle], copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review. To access the final edited and published work see [insert ACS Articles on Request author-directed link to Published Work, see http://pubs.acs.org/page/policy/articlesonrequest/index.html ]."
My reading is that it's only ok to post a pre-review version, and only if the above note is included, and only if you have received explicit permission from the editor of the journal. The ACS, which should represent us chemists, have by far the most draconian rules.

[Note that section 7 (which I haven't reproduced) covers 'accepted and published works', which is only permitted in case posting is mandated and only under certain conditions.]

See also item 19 here: http://pubs.acs.org/page/copyright/journals/faqs.html#
 It says pretty much the same thing. Note also that they tell you that you're allowed to link to the journal website, and that you're allowed to use the DOI.

How very generous.

Taylor and Francis
Author’s Original Manuscript (AOM) This is your original manuscript (often called a "preprint"), and you can share this as much or as little as you like. If you do decide to post it anywhere, including onto an academic networking site, we would recommend you use an amended version of the wording below to encourage usage and citation of your final, published article. Accepted Manuscript (AM) As a Taylor & Francis author, you can post your Accepted Manuscript (AM) on your departmental or personal website at any point after publication of your article (this includes posting to Facebook, Google groups, and LinkedIn, and linking from Twitter). Version of Record (VoR) This is your published article. We recommend that you include a link to the VoR from anywhere you have posted your AOM or AM using the text above. Please do not post the PDF of the VoR unless you have chosen to publish your article open access. This also applies to any author who has published with us in the past.
Summary: you can post the accepted manuscript, but not the journal version.

05 December 2014

604. Got a 'fake' USB stick from ebay

If it sounds too good to be true...

I bought two 128 Gb usb sticks from ebay for $12 each. Typical prices are $60 and over PER drive. Obviously, the drives were fake, which is a well-known phenomenon: http://www.ebay.com.au/gds/Fake-USB-DRIVES-From-China-HK-/10000000007355216/g.html

(why did I still buy them? Part greed, part curiosity)

Once I received the sticks I installed f3 on debian, and ran the f3write/f3read test.

Both drives failed:
SECTORS ok/corrupted/changed/overwritten Validating file 1.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0 Validating file 2.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0 Validating file 3.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0 Validating file 4.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0 Validating file 5.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0 Validating file 6.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0 Validating file 7.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0 Validating file 8.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0 Validating file 9.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0 Validating file 10.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0 Validating file 11.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0 Validating file 12.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0 Validating file 13.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0 Validating file 14.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0 Validating file 15.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0 Validating file 16.h2w ... 588128/ 1509024/ 0/ 0 Validating file 17.h2w ... 0/ 2097152/ 0/ 0 Validating file 18.h2w ... 0/ 2097152/ 0/ 0 Validating file 19.h2w ... 0/ 2097152/ 0/ 0 [..] Validating file 115.h2w ... 0/ 2097152/ 0/ 0 Validating file 116.h2w ... 0/ 2097152/ 0/ 0 Validating file 117.h2w ... 0/ 2097152/ 0/ 0 Validating file 118.h2w ... 45696/ 314496/ 0/ 0 Data OK: 15.30 GB (32091104 sectors) Data LOST: 101.87 GB (213635872 sectors) Corrupted: 101.87 GB (213635872 sectors) Slightly changed: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors) Overwritten: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors) Average reading speed: 14.37 MB/s

At this point I figured I might as well pop the drive open as it wasn't glued (just remove the clip and insert a screw driver gently in the hole at the back).

IDE, 5019SN-GT, D5P590-000FZ, 1433T8H4
 I googled the stuff written on the chip, but didn't find any exact matches.

I then logged into my ebay account, and filed a return with the reason being fake/counterfeit. I was advised to wait five days for the seller to reply, which I did, after which I clicked on the button on the ebay website that asked ebay to step in to resolve the case. After a few minutes I received an email letting me know they'll initiate a refund, and after ca 30 minutes I received an email from paypal informing me of the same. No need to return the two 16 Gb sticks.

I've obviously posted a negative review of the seller which lets the reader know about the fake sized USBs.

Interesting experience.

I don't have any complaints about ebay -- things moved fast and the resolution was fair and in my favour. I reckon that the seller makes a profit from most buyers not realising that their drive isn't as big as the OS reports it to be, and don't discover it until the off-chance that they fill it with data. A that point they'll probably attribute it to the drive being broken, rather than the seller being outright fraudulent.

20 November 2014

603. Mobile bankid; works fine in a VM too

Turns out I got it wrong in my earlier post -- mobile bankid has nothing to do with the telecom network.

How it works:
1. Phone: Start BankID on your phone. The program will say that it's waiting for a connection.
2. Computer: You go to your bank/government service web page, select Mobile BankID, then type in your 'person nummer' (like SSN).
3. Phone: BankID on your phone will then prompt you for your PIN.
4. Computer: You're logged in.

It's all happening over the internet. Sure, it might not work if you change SIM, for example, but at least it's not telephony based.

Best of all, I could get an activation code for mobile bankid using the win 7 bankid instance I set up in http://verahill.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/602-surviving-bankid-rant-moving-nge.html and now I never have to use it again.

[if you're on linux and in Scandinavia, just install mobile bankid on your phone or on android in a vm]

So, if you're on linux and you've been using the official bankid application and you happen to be a couple of continents removed from Scandinavia follow this post which basically does the following:
1. Install ubuntu 10.04 LTS in a VM
2. Install bankid 4.19.XXXX or earlier in the ubuntu VM
3. Copy your ~/.personal from your regular linux computer to the ubuntu VM
4. export your key using persadm export to a USB stick
5. Install windows 7 in a VM using the free, legal isos and the free, legal installation key. The copy will expire after 30 days (but will still continue working).
6. Install bankid in the Win 7 VM
7. Under File/Preferences in bankid add the directory on your USB stick with the exported bankid key
8. Log in to your BankID issuer (probably your bank) using bankid 'on file', and request a mobile bankid. You'll get an activation code
9. Install the bankid app on your phone (e.g. bankid from the play store on android)
10. Start the bankid app on your phone, and type in your personnummer and the activation code. Create a pin, which is your password
11. You're done.

I mean, sure, it's a very awkward way of going about it, but it works and is conceptually simple.

Android in a VM
And there's absolutely no reason you can't use mobile bankid it in a virtualbox VM if you want to -- I used an android 4.4 x86 iso and created a virtual machine, and then set up bankid which works fine.