[kfogel]

Well, right now it's still technically illegal to download them, unless & until Springer actually says some different license. Not that anyone would be prosecuted, obviously; one could clearly claim that it was obvious that Springer intended to distribute them at the very least for personal non-commercial use, even if Springer didn't say so explicitly anywhere. If the terms are even more liberal than that, so much the better... But it ain't so till Springer says it's so :-).

[emddudley]

The site's terms and conditions [1] state:

"You may solely for private, educational, personal, scientific, or research purposes access, browse, view, display, search, download and print the Content."

[1]: http://link.springer.com/termsandconditions

[47]

The website says "Open Access: This content is freely available online to anyone, anywhere at any time."

[adrianm]

Why is it technically illegal to download them?

[vidarh]

It isn't, assuming Springer doesn't have contracts with author precluding it. Springer is either the copyright holder or is authorised to distribute, and they are explicitly making the works available for download. You don't need any additional permission.

Any license changes they publish are important to establish your right to make any subsequent copies, though.

[pki]

there is somewhat of a difference between "purchasing something for 0.00 with appropriate distribution after creating an account at a webshop" and "torrenting a pdf"

[bobo123]

The quote says it is legal to download them

--edit: apologies, should be a response to parent