Web site offers text book downloads

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, March 28 (UPI) -- A Swedish Web site is offering students the chance to upload and download pages of academic literature without purchasing text books.

The Student Bay, which is apparently modeled after popular file-sharing site called The Pirate Bay, encourages users to scan and upload course materials into an archive that other students can browse and download from, The Local in Stockholm reported Friday.

Students seeking to download without first uploading a book are charged a $3.30 fee.

Elin Rosenberg, chairwoman of the Swedish National Union of Students, said the pirate text book site was likely created as a response to high-priced text books that some cash-strapped students have difficulty affording.

"We have been saying for ages that more needs to be done to keep down prices for academic literature," she said.

She said "an illegal solution is never a good solution," but stressed that publishers have a responsibility to keep their products affordable for Swedish students.