UI adapts to plagiarism bust
Ashton Shurson - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 3/7/08 Section: Metro
UI sophomore Brooke Duval is using turnitin.com for the first time this semester, and it doesn't bother her at all.
"I understand that cheating is prevalent," she said. "I don't think [turnitin.com] is a big deal."
But Duval's attitude is different from that of other students across the country.
A handful of high-school and college students have refused to submit papers and some have even sued the plagiarism-finding program because of alleged violations of intellectual property rights.
Some have felt that their secured copyrights were unfairly submitted to the website and they were upset about iParadigms - the company that puts out Turnitin - profiting from their papers.
( Daily Iowan TV video feature )
Turnitin.com has roughly 40 million student papers in its database and profits from its vast selection.
"I'm skeptical about the students' copyright-infringement claim," said Mark Janis, a UI law professor in an e-mail.
Turnitin contends that it is protected by the transformative aspect of the fair-use doctrine - which would allow copyrighted material to be used for things including finding plagiarism.
Janis said the company could also claim a license defense - meaning that when students turn in their own copyrighted papers for class, students are licensing their professors under the copyrights to do certain things with the papers, including turning them in to turnitin.com.
Although some students and professors across the country are hesitant to use the program because it undermines trust and copyright, here at the UI, students seem content using the website.
In the 2006-07 school year, more than 300 UI professors and 12,000 students used turnitin.com, said Maggie Jesse, an instructional service manager at Information Technology Services. It also costs the UI $20,000 a year to renew the service.
"I understand that cheating is prevalent," she said. "I don't think [turnitin.com] is a big deal."
But Duval's attitude is different from that of other students across the country.
A handful of high-school and college students have refused to submit papers and some have even sued the plagiarism-finding program because of alleged violations of intellectual property rights.
Some have felt that their secured copyrights were unfairly submitted to the website and they were upset about iParadigms - the company that puts out Turnitin - profiting from their papers.
( Daily Iowan TV video feature )
Video in QuickTime format, click here for free player download
Turnitin.com has roughly 40 million student papers in its database and profits from its vast selection.
"I'm skeptical about the students' copyright-infringement claim," said Mark Janis, a UI law professor in an e-mail.
Turnitin contends that it is protected by the transformative aspect of the fair-use doctrine - which would allow copyrighted material to be used for things including finding plagiarism.
Janis said the company could also claim a license defense - meaning that when students turn in their own copyrighted papers for class, students are licensing their professors under the copyrights to do certain things with the papers, including turning them in to turnitin.com.
Although some students and professors across the country are hesitant to use the program because it undermines trust and copyright, here at the UI, students seem content using the website.
In the 2006-07 school year, more than 300 UI professors and 12,000 students used turnitin.com, said Maggie Jesse, an instructional service manager at Information Technology Services. It also costs the UI $20,000 a year to renew the service.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Nikki
posted 3/08/08 @ 2:48 AM CST
Good for the students. It's about time we found back on these privacy issues.
The university steps on us whenever it can.
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