Students Sue Anti-Plagiarism Service 713
jazzbazzfazz writes "It seems that some students in Virginia are not happy with the anti-plagiarism service Turnitin. The company checks prose submitted by its customers for signs that it has been copied in whole or part by comparing it to a large database of works that it maintains. Trouble is, it also adds the submitted prose to its files and stores it for use by the company in future scans, which the students feel is illegal use of their copyrighted materials. I think they've got an excellent case, especially since they seem to have prepared for this eventuality: they're A-students, never been accused of plagiarism, and they formally copyrighted their papers prior to their submission to Turnitin."
Terms of Service (Score:5, Interesting)
If not, does this constitute fair use? I would argue that it doesn't, since Turnitin is doing it for commercial gain.
Clear case of Fair Use (Score:4, Interesting)
I hope it is thrown out while leaving plenty of egg on the students' faces.
Re:I predict (Score:4, Interesting)
I know people who've made most of their way through their undergrad plagiarizing papers. Not only does that mean my work is all for not, it also sets the bar higher when a prof has read 20 or 30 plagiarized papers. Not that my work's been terrible, but some of those papers are really great, and it makes it harder for me to get a good grade.
I hate that fucking bot... (Score:5, Interesting)
Right there it tells you how to turn the fucking thing off.
User-agent: TurnitinBot
Disallow: /
One of the McLean High plaintiffs wrote a paper titled "What Lies Beyond the Horizon." It was submitted to Turnitin with instructions that it not be archived, but it was, the lawsuit says.
So, instead of suing first, I assume that these students sent a certified letter demanding the content be removed from the database? The article doesn't specifically say, but I have a feeling that's not what happened.
Re:Where is your homework ? (Score:3, Interesting)
IOW, the guy had taken some other guy's paper from a previous year, photo-copied it, and turned it in as his own. I guess he had changed the title page or something, but didn't even take the time to _look_ at the rest of the pages to even see the markings.
Professor calls the guy in and says, "do you need to tell me anything about this paper?" And the kid is like, "I really enjoyed doing it." Professor is like, "anything else?" The kid catches on and says, "are you gonna give me an f on the paper?" The professor is like, "you're going to flunk the class and luck for you I'm not going to get you expelled from the school...."
This is very clever (Score:2, Interesting)
Turnitin.com plays on the rampant fears of plagiarism to sell a service students really don't have any choice of using. The teacher submits the papers, and the students have no control over their copyrighted material. You essay, your intellectual property, disappears into the black hole of turnitin.com and never comes out.
Let's get some legal framework down first (Score:2, Interesting)
Some points then:
* There is no "formally copyrighted" process. There is registration. Registration helps with damages, proof, and some other things, but it is not necessary. Fixing a creative work in a tangible form is about all that's needed for a copyright.
* The students, writing for a school, are not employees and they were not making works for hire. They are not employees. Even if they are independent contractors, there is nothing in writing.
* The students, going to a school, necessarily permit some uses of their copyrighted work. This is particularly clear if it was known that this sort of copying was going on in the first place.
* This case might involve fair use. I know what the company is doing feels a little slimy, but for those of us that care about free culture/constitution/whatever you want to call it, we ought to advocate for a version of fair use that is expansive enough to cover this activity. If Google should be able to copy books so that we can search them (as google should), then this company should be able to do something similar with term papers. Remember, these rules apply to everyone, not just the companies we feel good about.
Alright, now have at it.
Discussed before, but this is a new development (Score:4, Interesting)
This time, it looks like someone purposely set up a test case at the same high school (in McLean, VA), by submitting a paper and specifying that it not be archived -- then found that it was.
Last time, I wondered if it was appropriate for a public high school to require students to contribute their papers to Turnitin.com's database. You might be able to make a compelling argument that private schools and public/private universities could do so as a condition of admission. But, how do you reconcile truancy laws and forced contributions to a privately owned-and-operated company?
Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I predict (Score:1, Interesting)
It's ridiculous that this is necessary. Course syllabi are already like five pages long to account for whatever legalistic maneuvers a previous student used to avoid a course requirement.
And as an editorial comment (I am a university instructor) -- SCREW these students. It is already too easy to plagiarize and too difficult to make charges stick, to the extent that many instructors decline to punishing suspected plagiarism -- it's a huge waste of their valuable time. These students are cheapening the value of their own degrees by making plagiarism even more rampant than it already is.
Re:I predict (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Terms of Service (Score:5, Interesting)
Normal use of this service is by the TEACHER, not the writer. The teacher does NOT have the legal authority to assign the copyright to Turnitin.
I am sure that the kids took the precaution of having Student A write the paper and Student B submit it, so that there particular law test case will work.
Re:Terms of Service (Score:5, Interesting)
The real questions involve the fact that teachers are submitting papers which are not their own IP to the site. Perhaps the teachers or school system can be held liable for copyright infringement, or some sort of fraud for claiming ownership of the copyrighted work of others?
Re:I predict (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Going nowhere fast? (Score:3, Interesting)
"Your License to Us: Unless otherwise indicated in this Site, including our Privacy Policy or in connection with one of our services, any communications or material of any kind that you e-mail, post, or transmit through the Site (excluding personally identifiable information of students and any papers submitted to the Site), including, questions, comments, suggestions, and other data and information (your "Communications") will be treated as non-confidential and non-proprietary. You grant iParadigms a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, world-wide, irrevocable license to reproduce, transmit, display, disclose, and otherwise use your Communications on the Site or elsewhere for our business purposes. We are free to use any ideas, concepts, techniques, know-how in your Communications for any purpose, including, but not limited to, the development and use of products and services based on the Communications."
This is already the case (Score:5, Interesting)
Possible workaround for Turnitin (Score:3, Interesting)
They could issue a standalone program, for the use of tutors, which will break the submitted work up into phrase chunks, and store each submitted essay as a sequence of hashed phrases.
Storing it as a sequence of hashed words might still run foul of copyright, since a dictionary attack would be able to uplift most/all of the plaintext. But if the hashing granularity is phrases, then turnitin could argue that it is computationally infeasible to reconstruct the submitted cleartext, and thus what they're storing is effectively a 'fingerprint' of the work and not the work itself.
If they wanted to get really smart, they could break up each phrase into words, and by using a thesaurus, reduce each word to an index into a table of synonym sets. This could defeat circumvention attempts whereby plagiarists replace words with synonyms to avoid detection.
Re:Uh... no. (Score:5, Interesting)
This was the second time he had taken the class, and he still had all his coursework from the prior semester. Instead of redoing one particular assignment, he simply turned in what he had done for the same assignment the prior semester (for which he had scored well). The professor gave him a failing grade and reported him for plaigarism.
His argument: He had done the work himself, he should be able to turn it in.
The school's argument: Per the contract, all work submitted by students becomes the intellectual property of the university. Upon first submission, the intellectual property rights were transferred to the university. Upon second submission, the work was now in violation of plaigarism rules, as it consisted entirely of intellectual property belonging to the university.
In the end, the schoolboard decided on leniency, and allowed him a short period to repeat the assignment, but made it well-known that this would not be tolerated in the future.
Question of Fine Print (Score:3, Interesting)
At the high school level, a student doesn't sign any contract with the public school system as far as I know regarding the copyright of material (it's high school, what are the odds that it's worth copyrighting?). So the school does not hold the copyright--the students do.
So if the student is compelled to use Turnitin.com, of if the teacher uses Turnitin.com without the student's knowledge, this could constitute copyright infringement I think. Even if the student (say, at a private university) had signed a contract on admission that all work submitted to the school became the intellectual property of the school, the work would still have the copyright of the student because they received that right before they turned it in.
So one person's document says that it is proprietary and belongs to the student. The other states it is non-proprietary and belongs to Turnitin.com. So whose fine print wins? I think that, if the student did not freely choose to submit it to Turnitin.com, then the copyright should stay with the student and the students should win.
(Personally I think Turnitin.com's Terms of Service are horrible and nasty, since they also make the school defend them. You agree to indemnify and defend iParadigms from any claim (including attorneys fees and costs) arising from your (a) use of the Site, (b) violation of any third party right, or (c) breach of any of these Terms and Conditions. I sure wouldn't do that.)
Re:Terms of Service (Score:4, Interesting)
This is a sketchier argument; in general, most courts in the U.S. have given public schools fairly broad powers to compel students to do anything they want out of them, except where there's a straightforward Constitutional issue (school prayer, vaccinations, etc.).
In order to make that into a tryable case, some student might have to be willing to really sacrifice themselves; write nothing but grade-A papers, but refuse to submit them to Turnitin and wait for the teacher/school to fail them in a required course and prevent them from graduating. That ought to be actionable, since it's easier to see what the damages are; when the damages are just the loss of exclusive rights to your 11th grade English paper on Hamlet, it's not as compelling.
Just suppose (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Uh... no. (Score:3, Interesting)
Do I get a penny of this? Nope, and do I get free access as the Author? Nope.
Did they ask for my permission? Nope.
Its the standard way papers are distributed in the academic world. I think it's unfair as it stands, although I recognise they have some need to recoup their storage/indexing costs.
Incidentally, I started my phd with the explicit requirement that all software instantiations of my research that I created were to be released under the GPL, and that no-one else had control over my findings. I had an understanding supervisor, and the prerequisites were accepted.
Re:I predict (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Terms of Service (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Uh... no. (Score:5, Interesting)
The professor passed out papers to be submitted with the final work which assigned rights to the University. I refused to sign. I made what I thought was an intelligent and calm case for my point -- immediately shot down, and received an automatic F (even though I submitted the work, and suspecting there to be a problem did so at the faculty office where I received signed proof it was submitted on time).
While most ideas were probably stupid in the great scheme of things, this was obviously a fishing expedition by the professor to hope to get a great idea.
Later, another professor wanted to use my idea from the paper. Lacking automatic license, we discussed it, discussed the other professor's actions, etc. The end result was the legal team for the school voiding all that professor's agreements under fear of liability for unjust enrichment and other abuse of power type of laws -- and his tenure was revoked. And, ta dah -- the Chair of the department adjusted my grade.
But, I did happily sign a LIMITED license for the University to use my program free-of-charge on that specific project --- when I was asked, explained what it was to be used for, and treated with the respect that just because I was an undergrad doesn't mean they have everything and I have nothing.
That being said -- clearly it's not automatic that the school gets rights to the work, nor can you be forced to assign rights unless the school exchanged something for them (or it was a condition of admission, etc.). But, obviously there needs to be SOME wiggle room to allow academic growth (should I be able to sue because my professor gave my paper to someone else because he thought it was either really good or really bad and it wasn't implied he would be sharing them?)
It all comes down to respect and asking permission, if you ask me. Given the option of 1- using Turnitin and getting a grade quicker and not having to submit rough drafts, research, etc. -- or 2- Submitting 2 rough drafts and documentation of research with your paper --- most students would probably use Turnitin. But they've been given a fair choice in my example, and if they disagree with Turnitin's policies they are free to not use it.
Re:Probably not fair use. (Score:2, Interesting)
When I was in university, we had to sign an agreement that whatever we submit to them can be used without my permission, for distribution, for profit, etc. Anything I produce using university resources also fell under this 'agreement' except for maybe one or two special cases. I'm under the impression that this is pretty standard across universities now.
But actually, for courses where we had to use TurnItIn, we had to sign a release. IIRC, it was to the effect that I gave up my copyright and they become the owner of my work. We did have the option to not submit through TurnItIn provided that we talked with the professor and explain our concerns. My sister who's in high school now is not as fortunate. She has to sign the release or no credit will be given. No alternatives at all. Any objection is met with the "if you have nothing to hide..." argument and laughs if you talk about copyright and ownership.
This is Canada too, not the US.
Re:Uh... no. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Probably not fair use. (Score:2, Interesting)
The system is skewed to keep the lower and middle class inline. Like paying that AMT if you and/or your spouse manage to hit middle class status? Like have a dubious credit rating system? Like enormous insurance cost for subpar treatment (they actually deducted $64,000 from my father's hospital bill when he needed surgery simply because he HAD insurance, tell me that's not a scam)? Etc Etc. So just keep your head in the sand, you'll be fine.
Like myself for instance, I'm working my ass off, literally, two jobs and college, I've applied for multiple scholarships time and time again, never got a one. Now that I've got my associates, simply because that is all I can afford out of pocket at this time; if they think as an Alumni I'll ever donate scholarship money, they are out of their minds.
LOL, I always get such odd words in my little anti-bot box, this one was "inferior"
Re:Probably not fair use. (Score:3, Interesting)
Previously to issuing the suit. You have (IIRC) 6 months from date of first publication (which date has arguably not even occurred in this case) to register before you lose the right to the additional damages. Unless that deadline has expired, you do not have to register prior to the infringment taking place.
Bzzzt! Wrong answer! (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes, we expect a degree, unless you're so incredibly smart that you can produce without one. (And almost all of you who think that you are that smart are simply wrong. Formal education tends to give you the foundation on which all technology is built, and it's rare to find someone who 'gets it' without going to college.)
No, we DO NOT CARE where you went to school, as long as it's accredited. What we care about is:
a) Can you do the technical work we need done?
b) Can you communicate clearly? (Orally and in writing.)
c) Are you decently groomed? (So that others are not made uncomfortable by your appearance.)
d) Do you know when to SHUT UP? (Being right about a technical issue is nice, but just because you are right you don't have the freedom to tell people they are idiots.)
e) Can you see the big picture? (Sometimes there is considerable business value in building something other than the "perfect" solution, and we want to be able to pay you to build something technically "lame" because it's the best way for us to make more money.)
f) Are you a leader in your chosen field? Are you willing to learn leadership in a broader sense?
We can always hire someone who knows how to flip bits. We are looking for people who can flip bits and be tolerable to be around. There are plenty of technically competent jerks who think they know it all. We'll let others have them, and we'll hire the people who are smart in more than one area.
The key is turning brainpower into systems and applications that make the company cheaper to run or facilitate making more money. That's what we care about. We don't care where your parchment came from.