Violation of the Intellectual Property Rights of Students - Essay Example

To Turnitin or Not? All over the United s, and teachers at universities, colleges and high schools are attempting to fight plagiarism defined as cheating. Many colleges and universities are purchasing expensive software programs to catch cheaters. One of the most popular programs is turnitin. However, this software is centered in controversy and both teachers and students are wondering whether the software is able to do what it sets out to do. Many students see it as a way to drive a wedge between teachers and students. (Thesis) It is this students opinion that turnitin violates the intellectual property rights of students and jeopardizes their privacy. Background Plagiarism is on the rise in the United States and in other countries. A survey done by Duke Universitys founding president found that , "four in ten college students surveyed said they intentionally cut and pasted material from the Internet without citing the source of the information" (MacMillan, 2007, 1). Students cheat in at least two ways. They either buy papers from private essay mills or from their friends. Sometimes students will pass papers to students in certain classes from year to year. Turnitin was created to stop both of these types of cheating. However, the use of this software has given both teachers and students a reason to worry. The Controversy There are two sides to this controversy. On one side are professors who say that Turnitin doesnt do what it says it can and therefore sets students up for possible failure. On the other side are the students themselves who are angry because Turnitin is a violation of their intellectual privacy rights because they arent compensated for leaving their papers in the database. Intellectual Property Rights Students are upset because their work is being left in a database of papers that Turnitin keeps to test against other papers. The way the system works is that a teacher sends papers to Turnitin or makes it a mandatory part of the class for students to do this on their won. Once submitted, a copy is maintained in their database indefinitely, so they can be tested against new papers that come in. If it indicates that there is a match between papers, any teacher can receive a copy of it. The premise is that this will keep students from passing papers through courses from year to year. In Fairfax County, VA, students at McClean High School and their parents sent a petition around the school to protest the high schools use of this product (MacMillan, 2007: 2). Students were able to get 70% of the student body to sign. UCLA in their training paper, "Exploring the Controversy Surrounding the Use of Turnitin," said that this software is "potentially violating the students copyright and right to privacy (UCLA, 2007, paper 2) because they dont compensate the students. There is also the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), the federal law that is to keep student records private. According to FERPA, student records include "Written documents, computer media, microfilm and microfiche, video or audio tapes or CDs, and photographs (UCLA, 2007, paper 2). Anything that a student has their name on must be kept private. Since your name is on your paper when you hand it in, it is another piece of your record and must be kept private. Turnitin is Not Effective The other side of the controversy is that this program is not effective in identifying plagiarism because there are too many limitations. UCLA states that Turnitin doesnt pick up every aspect of text that has to be copied. It only picks up phrases that have been directly taken from specific papers on the Internet (UCLA, 2007: paper 1-C). Because of this, students can be accused of cheating if this is the only source that teachers use to check (Hurley, 2006: 1). Literary Bee showed an entire list of reasons not to use Turnitin. The items on the list include: It allows teachers to accuse students of cheating when they may not have cheated It invades student privacy It creates an atmosphere of distrusts between students and teachers It doesn’t effectively stop plagiarism. (Literary Bee, 2007) According to Royce (2003), a student can diligently work to do citations correctly but still be accused of plagiarism (Royce, 2003, p. 5), which means that innocent students could be expelled from a class or from a college. Another concern for privacy is that businesses are often sold. The concern for students is if the Turnitin is sold, the database of papers is also passed on. In the iParadigms, Inc. (the company that makes Turnitin) privacy statement, they say that if the business is sold, "personal information in our databases may be included among the transferred assets" (MacMillan 3). Conclusion Turnitin is a violation of the students right to privacy and it is a violation of intellectual privacy rights. It is unbelievable that teachers would subject students to this kind of violation. Some teachers say they use this program as a "teaching tool" by asking students to put their own papers into the system then asking them to look at their own papers for plagiarism. Afterwards they can go back and correct the paper (Hurley, 2006). The challenge that I see with that is it takes a lot of time for students to do this and it seems like more time should be spent on teaching. Some teachers use Turnitin as punishment. If a student is caught cheating through use of this method, the student can be receive an "F" for the paper or be expelled from the class. UCLA says that unless teachers use some other method along with Turnitin needs to be used (UCLA 2007, paper 1-C). In todays world there are so many mixed messages about what is right and what is wrong. As consumers we are told that we cant download music, or other intellectual property from the Internet without paying a fee and without permission from the musician or the author. What makes students different? Why are we not receiving compensation when we have to use this service? This student understands the fight regarding cheating, but another aspect of the literature says this fight may not be important because there is no real way to stop it. In colleges like Harvard and Yale, teachers dont worry about plagiarism (Economist, 2002). As UCLA states, " … the hypocrisy of Turnitin, which violates authorial integrity in order to teach student that violating authorial integrity is wrong" (UCLA, 2007, paper 2). I think this is as wrong as those people who feel the need to cheat. I hope that in the future there are better ways to help teachers help students and that more time will be spent on teaching. Works Cited Hurley, Meghan. Associated Content. "TurnItIn Raises Controversy." The Loquitur. 13 Oct. 2006. Cabrini College. 08 March 2008. . Literary Bee. "Turnitin.com-A Complete Waste of money to High Schools, Colleges, and Universities Across the World. Associated Content. 09 Sept. 2007. 08 March 2008. http://associatedcontent.com. "Plaigiarise. Let No One Elses Work Evade your Eyes." Economist. Vol. 362 No. 8264 2002: 81. ESBSCOhost database Academic Search Premier. AN: 6348068. Royce, John. "Hs Turnitin.com Got It All Wrapped Up?" Teacher Librarian. Vol. 30, No. 4. (2003): 26. EBSCOHost database Academic Search Premier. AN: 9460777. UCLA Office of Instructional Development. "Limitations to Turnitin." 08 March 2008. Paper 1- c. http://www.oid.ucla.edu/trainingarticles/turnitin/turnitin-1c. UCLA Office of Instructional Development. "Exploring the Controversy Surrounding the use of Turnitin." 08 March 2008. Paper 2. http://www.oid.ucla.edu/training/trainingarticles/turnitin/turnitin-2. Read More