Anti plagiarism is (un)ethical - 20 views

Turnitin plagiarism

started by Weiye Loh on 21 Aug 09

#1 Weiye Loh on 21 Aug 09

http://www.hilwerda.com/turnitin.htm
The biggest complaints against the use of Turn It In! software are:

1) it is a violation of the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA);
2) it is a violation of intellectual copyright protection;
3) it is a violation of confidentiality between student and teacher (what happens when someone breaches the Turn It In! database and exposes the writings of millions of students to the public? Writings that were supposed to be held confidential between students and their instructors? See the right-hand side bar for a brief list of major security breaches).

Now that I'm in my last semester, it's nice to revisit something that was 'heavily' debated in my NM1101E class during my very first semester.

Is turnitin unethical? One of the arguments raised by an exchange student from Canada was that it assumes that all students are unethical and plagiarizes. And such an assumption is inherently unethical since there's no basis of of proof.

It goes back to the question raised during the virus presentation that police are in jobs because of the thieves. If there's no thieves there wouldn't be a need for police. But is it ethical to assume that people are likely to be thieves and hence warrant the need for police? Chicken and egg.

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner"><a href="http://www.hilwerda.com/turnitin.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.hilwerda.com/turnitin.htm</a> <br /> The biggest complaints against the use of Turn It In! software are: <br /> <br /> 1) it is a violation of the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA); <br /> 2) it is a violation of intellectual copyright protection; <br /> 3) it is a violation of confidentiality between student and teacher (what happens when someone breaches the Turn It In! database and exposes the writings of millions of students to the public? Writings that were supposed to be held confidential between students and their instructors? See the right-hand side bar for a brief list of major security breaches). <br /> <br /> <br /> Now that I'm in my last semester, it's nice to revisit something that was 'heavily' debated in my NM1101E class during my very first semester. <br /> <br /> Is turnitin unethical? One of the arguments raised by an exchange student from Canada was that it assumes that all students are unethical and plagiarizes. And such an assumption is inherently unethical since there's no basis of of proof. <br /> <br /> It goes back to the question raised during the virus presentation that police are in jobs because of the thieves. If there's no thieves there wouldn't be a need for police. But is it ethical to assume that people are likely to be thieves and hence warrant the need for police? Chicken and egg.</div>

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#4 Ang Yao Zong on 26 Aug 09

" It goes back to the question raised during the virus presentation that police are in jobs because of the thieves. If there's no thieves there wouldn't be a need for police. But is it ethical to assume that people are likely to be thieves and hence warrant the need for police? Chicken and egg."

With regards to the above statement, I have to say that the situation is actually occuring amongst the NUS fraternity. There have been cases where lecturers have doubted the writing abilities of students to come up with sentences that "does not seem to be written by them", meaning that the lecturers actually suspect that the students had plagiarise the paragraph and used it for their own purposes with attributing the proper credits.

Can one say that the presence of software such as Turnitin actually helped to increase the cynicism of lecturers by assuming that all students might have a tendency to plagiarise in the first place?

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">" It goes back to the question raised during the virus presentation that police are in jobs because of the thieves. If there's no thieves there wouldn't be a need for police. But is it ethical to assume that people are likely to be thieves and hence warrant the need for police? Chicken and egg." <br /> <br /> With regards to the above statement, I have to say that the situation is actually occuring amongst the NUS fraternity. There have been cases where lecturers have doubted the writing abilities of students to come up with sentences that "does not seem to be written by them", meaning that the lecturers actually suspect that the students had plagiarise the paragraph and used it for their own purposes with attributing the proper credits. <br /> <br /> Can one say that the presence of software such as Turnitin actually helped to increase the cynicism of lecturers by assuming that all students might have a tendency to plagiarise in the first place?</div>

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#5 Chen Guo Lim on 26 Aug 09

I think there is a need to investigate the motivation behind using these softwares.
Suppose a writer has recently come across an article that seemingly have plagiarised, thus using the software to check and compile evidences of plagiarisms, and thus seeking redress, it might be justified, Then again, this statement in itself is flawed as it assumes that if a person owns the IP, then s/he has the rights to claim all IP rights, which of course is argueable.

Nevertheless, in the situation where the motivation to using these softwares is that of supervision and protection, it might not be justifiable. Then again, it is important to note, that from an ego-centric point of view, it is ethical.

This brings me to the another point of content, in that we always believe that the notion of innocence until proven guilty. But can we say that this is ethical, seeing as the ethicality of various judicial systems are still in questions.

Bottom line: does one human have the right to judge another human? Does the use of a neutral (again another point of contention) tool such a software better aid us in the formulation of judgements?

Ang Yao Zong wrote:
> " It goes back to the question raised during the virus presentation that police are in jobs because of the thieves. If there's no thieves there wouldn't be a need for police. But is it ethical to assume that people are likely to be thieves and hence warrant the need for police? Chicken and egg."
>
> With regards to the above statement, I have to say that the situation is actually occuring amongst the NUS fraternity. There have been cases where lecturers have doubted the writing abilities of students to come up with sentences that "does not seem to be written by them", meaning that the lecturers actually suspect that the students had plagiarise the paragraph and used it for their own purposes with attributing the proper credits.
>
> Can one say that the presence of software such as Turnitin actually helped to increase the cynicism of lecturers by assuming that all students might have a tendency to plagiarise in the first place?

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">I think there is a need to investigate the motivation behind using these softwares. <br /> Suppose a writer has recently come across an article that seemingly have plagiarised, thus using the software to check and compile evidences of plagiarisms, and thus seeking redress, it might be justified, Then again, this statement in itself is flawed as it assumes that if a person owns the IP, then s/he has the rights to claim all IP rights, which of course is argueable. <br /> <br /> Nevertheless, in the situation where the motivation to using these softwares is that of supervision and protection, it might not be justifiable. Then again, it is important to note, that from an ego-centric point of view, it is ethical. <br /> <br /> This brings me to the another point of content, in that we always believe that the notion of innocence until proven guilty. But can we say that this is ethical, seeing as the ethicality of various judicial systems are still in questions. <br /> <br /> Bottom line: does one human have the right to judge another human? Does the use of a neutral (again another point of contention) tool such a software better aid us in the formulation of judgements? <br /> <br /> Ang Yao Zong wrote: <br /> > " It goes back to the question raised during the virus presentation that police are in jobs because of the thieves. If there's no thieves there wouldn't be a need for police. But is it ethical to assume that people are likely to be thieves and hence warrant the need for police? Chicken and egg." <br /> > <br /> > With regards to the above statement, I have to say that the situation is actually occuring amongst the NUS fraternity. There have been cases where lecturers have doubted the writing abilities of students to come up with sentences that "does not seem to be written by them", meaning that the lecturers actually suspect that the students had plagiarise the paragraph and used it for their own purposes with attributing the proper credits. <br /> > <br /> > Can one say that the presence of software such as Turnitin actually helped to increase the cynicism of lecturers by assuming that all students might have a tendency to plagiarise in the first place?</div>

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