Comments on: TurnItIn.com — Genius Plagiarism Prevention or Legal Trainwreck. http://www.computerdefense.org/2006/09/turnitincom-genius-prevention-or-legal-trainwreck/ Sharing my thoughts with the world. Wed, 16 Nov 2011 02:58:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Tyler Reguly http://www.computerdefense.org/2006/09/turnitincom-genius-prevention-or-legal-trainwreck/comment-page-1/#comment-73 Tyler Reguly Fri, 06 Oct 2006 00:49:05 +0000 http://www.computerdefense.org/?p=108#comment-73 As I mentioned... I contacted both PRC and EFF for comments on this... I've yet to hear back from the EFF, however I did hear back from PRC... It seems that they don't see this as a privacy issue, but an IP issue... Their comment is attached below: ----- Dear Tyler, Thank you for contacting the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse about TurnItIn.com. The best people to ask for comment on this would be intellectual property attorneys. Since this is not our area of expertise, we will be unable to offer a comment. I'm so sorry for the inconvenience. Sincerely, Patricia Consumer Advocate Privacy Rights Clearinghouse 3100 Fifth Avenue, Suite B San Diego, CA 92103-5839 phone: (619) 298-3396 FAX: (619) 298-5681 http://www.privacyrights.org As I mentioned… I contacted both PRC and EFF for comments on this… I’ve yet to hear back from the EFF, however I did hear back from PRC… It seems that they don’t see this as a privacy issue, but an IP issue… Their comment is attached below:

—–
Dear Tyler,

Thank you for contacting the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse about
TurnItIn.com. The best people to ask for comment on this would be
intellectual property attorneys. Since this is not our area of
expertise, we will be unable to offer a comment.

I’m so sorry for the inconvenience.

Sincerely,
Patricia
Consumer Advocate

Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
3100 Fifth Avenue, Suite B
San Diego, CA 92103-5839
phone: (619) 298-3396
FAX: (619) 298-5681
http://www.privacyrights.org

]]> By: Tyler Reguly http://www.computerdefense.org/2006/09/turnitincom-genius-prevention-or-legal-trainwreck/comment-page-1/#comment-40 Tyler Reguly Mon, 25 Sep 2006 15:03:21 +0000 http://www.computerdefense.org/?p=108#comment-40 This article received mention @ http://keithtipton.powerblogs.com/posts/1159157907.shtml. Keith didn't agree with my comparison of requiring submissions to TurnItIn.com to the mass collection of DNA and Fingerprint evidence. This was my response... which I believe should also appear here to clear up this issue for any future readers. To address the issue... Forensic Linguistics (or Stylistics as it's more commonly being refered to) is very real and used quite often... High Schools, Colleges and Universities are helping amass a large database of individual writing styles. Given government ability to subpoena records... TurnItIn.com is building a forensic database not unlike a fingerprint or DNA database. While this forensic science may not be leading the way right now, it does exist and that's what causes a concern regarding privacy. This article received mention @ http://keithtipton.powerblogs.com/posts/1159157907.shtml. Keith didn’t agree with my comparison of requiring submissions to TurnItIn.com to the mass collection of DNA and Fingerprint evidence.

This was my response… which I believe should also appear here to clear up this issue for any future readers.

To address the issue… Forensic Linguistics (or Stylistics as it’s more commonly being refered to) is very real and used quite often… High Schools, Colleges and Universities are helping amass a large database of individual writing styles. Given government ability to subpoena records… TurnItIn.com is building a forensic database not unlike a fingerprint or DNA database. While this forensic science may not be leading the way right now, it does exist and that’s what causes a concern regarding privacy.

]]> By: J_K9 http://www.computerdefense.org/2006/09/turnitincom-genius-prevention-or-legal-trainwreck/comment-page-1/#comment-35 J_K9 Mon, 25 Sep 2006 06:59:06 +0000 http://www.computerdefense.org/?p=108#comment-35 Aye - who is to say that these 'anti-cheat verification' apps (or whatever you want to call them) are foolproof, and as sophisticated as they may claim to be? And what is classified as "cheating".. For example, if I used the statements "this plant's rate of photosynthesis decreases as" and "from this we can deduce that" in my document, and both those statements happened to be on another page about a similar thing (it's not like they're uncommon in these types of articles/documents), would I be crossed off as a cheat, and my work destroyed? Or, if this were used to verify GCSE coursework electronically, would I be disqualified from ALL my GCSEs because a piece of software claims that I have plagiarised, when, in fact, I haven't? "What happens if the coders of the site have missed flaws… I post a document for “peer review” and it contains an xss which the server doesn’t properly eliminate… suddenly I have plenty of private information from your computer… or I use SQL Injection to dump their database.. " That is another frightening issue.. And I'm sure that one of these sites has a flaw on some page or other.. :shock: Aye – who is to say that these ‘anti-cheat verification’ apps (or whatever you want to call them) are foolproof, and as sophisticated as they may claim to be? And what is classified as “cheating”.. For example, if I used the statements “this plant’s rate of photosynthesis decreases as” and “from this we can deduce that” in my document, and both those statements happened to be on another page about a similar thing (it’s not like they’re uncommon in these types of articles/documents), would I be crossed off as a cheat, and my work destroyed? Or, if this were used to verify GCSE coursework electronically, would I be disqualified from ALL my GCSEs because a piece of software claims that I have plagiarised, when, in fact, I haven’t?

“What happens if the coders of the site have missed flaws… I post a document for “peer review” and it contains an xss which the server doesn’t properly eliminate… suddenly I have plenty of private information from your computer… or I use SQL Injection to dump their database.. ”

That is another frightening issue.. And I’m sure that one of these sites has a flaw on some page or other.. :shock:

]]> By: Tyler Reguly http://www.computerdefense.org/2006/09/turnitincom-genius-prevention-or-legal-trainwreck/comment-page-1/#comment-32 Tyler Reguly Sun, 24 Sep 2006 21:09:38 +0000 http://www.computerdefense.org/?p=108#comment-32 It's glad to see some places aren't adopting this yet... To me this is a way for teachers/professors to become even lazier... Another issue I have with this is the "verification" process... We all know computers don't make mistakes... users make mistakes.. programmers make mistakes... How can we be sure that the verification process is entirely accurate... What if someone makes a change and suddenly if you use 10% of the same words you've copied the document... You could be discredited and shamed at your school.. and even if the glitch is fixed, who's to say your reputation will ever be the same.. especially if it were published online... it could ruin your entire life. What happens if the coders of the site have missed flaws... I post a document for "peer review" and it contains an xss which the server doesn't properly eliminate... suddenly I have plenty of private information from your computer... or I use SQL Injection to dump their database.. I now have every document they have stored... and much worse... your personal details with your school shared with them when they signed you up... There are plenty of concerns among these sites.. I would feel violated in using it. It’s glad to see some places aren’t adopting this yet… To me this is a way for teachers/professors to become even lazier…

Another issue I have with this is the “verification” process… We all know computers don’t make mistakes… users make mistakes.. programmers make mistakes… How can we be sure that the verification process is entirely accurate… What if someone makes a change and suddenly if you use 10% of the same words you’ve copied the document… You could be discredited and shamed at your school.. and even if the glitch is fixed, who’s to say your reputation will ever be the same.. especially if it were published online… it could ruin your entire life.

What happens if the coders of the site have missed flaws… I post a document for “peer review” and it contains an xss which the server doesn’t properly eliminate… suddenly I have plenty of private information from your computer… or I use SQL Injection to dump their database.. I now have every document they have stored… and much worse… your personal details with your school shared with them when they signed you up… There are plenty of concerns among these sites.. I would feel violated in using it.

]]> By: J_K9 http://www.computerdefense.org/2006/09/turnitincom-genius-prevention-or-legal-trainwreck/comment-page-1/#comment-31 J_K9 Sun, 24 Sep 2006 20:57:02 +0000 http://www.computerdefense.org/?p=108#comment-31 I agree entirely - I haven't got a problem with my work being checked for plagiarism, as long as it's done by people I trust (my teachers). However, when it's done by a third party, especially one which MAY have a 'grey'-type licence, I refuse to send it to them... Or, rather, I would refuse to do so - luckily, our school doesn't use that kind of system. Our teachers check our work by themselves. Good points, though. If they ever propose this kind of thing at our school, I'll take a few points from this ;) I agree entirely – I haven’t got a problem with my work being checked for plagiarism, as long as it’s done by people I trust (my teachers). However, when it’s done by a third party, especially one which MAY have a ‘grey’-type licence, I refuse to send it to them… Or, rather, I would refuse to do so – luckily, our school doesn’t use that kind of system. Our teachers check our work by themselves.

Good points, though. If they ever propose this kind of thing at our school, I’ll take a few points from this ;)

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