To make it publicly available, you need to strip it. That means the file must be modified, and the tampered copy must be stored somewhere.
Sci-hub has a different model: it is decentralized because it lends credentials to download protected articles. It does not store them. It cannot remain decentralized if it stored or cached the content.
I looked into it to write a QR-code tool. Getting the standard was a bullshit process and I wasn't going to pay that much for a side-project. I did not write the tool as a result, even though I'm not happy with the one existing on linux (though, thanks a lot to its author, who did so using the standard at personal cost for public benefit).
The solution I found was to buy it properly, but go through eastern-Europe countries, to make it cheaper. Still bullshit to have to buy a standard for common tooling necessary to interact with everyday life.
> Getting the standard was a bullshit process and I wasn't going to pay that much for a side-project.
I was once in a similar situation. Needed the document in order to understand QR codes so I could contribute to the zbar project. Was forced to use some outdated draft I found online.
I simply don't understand the point of this gatekeeping. IETF RFCs are how things should be done.
If $500 for a copy on an iso about home network security is true (as another commenter pointed out), I'm sure they charge similar if not more for the popular ones companies rely on.