plagiarism

Check for unauthorized copying with Desktop Plagiarism Checker

Plagiarism is a big problem in the online world, not to mention a very old one in academia, government, and industry. Some modern tools have made it easier for teachers, administrators, and employers to check for plagiarism in text submitted by writers, test takers, job seekers, and others who might seek to gain an advantage from others' labors or property (it's known as "stealing").

Plagiarisma's Desktop Plagiarism Checker is a handy interface for a Web-based plagiarism search tool that supports more than 190 languages and many document types. The software and service are free, but you … Read more

Copying checker

Viper - the Anti-plagiarism Scanner, promises to scan uploaded documents for plagiarism, a serious issue in academic, business, and publishing spheres. Like other services of its type, it's aimed primarily at students and is intended to reduce the copying and shopping of term papers and essays. Also like the others, it offers free and paid subscription services, both of which offer the same level of checking from the same database and other similar and virtually identical services. The chief difference is what happens to your work nine months later.

On the one hand, Viper is easy to use and … Read more

Tools for rooting out Web plagiarism, copyright violations

Some misguided souls in the Internet publishing world still consider all online material as being in the public domain. A recent example of this cluelessness is the editor of a food journal who stole an article that included a recipe for apple pie and then claimed to be doing the article's author a favor by reprinting it without the author's permission or any remuneration, as described by Helen A.S. Popkin on the MSNBC.com TechnoLog.

(See a related blog by CNET contributor Lance Whitney for more on the story.)

For the record, copyrights do indeed extend to … Read more

Lifting of blogger's story triggers online furor

A magazine accused of publishing a blogger's story without permission has seen a dramatic rise in the number of its Facebook friends, although they're not all that friendly.

The tale of writer Monica Gaudio hit the Web on Wednesday after she reported that her story, "A Tale of Two Tarts," was apparently lifted and published by the print magazine Cooks Source with her byline, but without her knowledge or any compensation. After tracking down the editor at the magazine, Gaudio asked for an apology on Facebook and in the magazine, as well as a $130 donation … Read more

Why did Dealbreaker freelancer have reader info?

Dealbreaker, a self-described "Wall Street tabloid," is scrambling to answer questions Monday about why it would give a freelancer--especially one with a history of questionable conduct--access to readers' personal information.

Zachery Kouwe, the former New York Times reporter who resigned in February after acknowledging he plagiarized material from competing publications, apparently tried to intimidate readers who made critical comments about his stories by informing them he knew where they worked, according to a report in Reuters.

Managers at Dealbreaker, owned by Breaking Media, told Reuters that they severed ties with Kouwe on Thursday, after learning that he "… Read more

Teacher turns to tech to stop cheating

Writing a term paper and thinking about borrowing one that already got someone else an A, or at least is geared to deliver a mere passing grade?

For some California high school students, that dodgy maneuver now means reckoning not just with the sharp (or tired) eyes of the teacher, but also the algorithms of a Web-based plagiarism sniffer.

San Mateo High School is trying out the services of Oakland-based Turnitin.com, according to a report from CBS station KOVR-TV in Sacramento. (Note: CNET News is a unit of CBS Interactive.) Students are asked to submit their essays online, and … Read more

Coldplay, Satriani, and...Gunther?

Correction: "He's So Fine" was by The Chiffons, not The Supremes as I originally wrote.

I hate audio plagiarism lawsuits--there are only 12 notes, and only so many ways to combine them--but the law has come down time and time again on the side of the plaintiffs. George Harrison was forced to pay damages for "unintentionally" ripping off "He's So Fine" by The Chiffons. Ironically, Harrison's manager at that time, Allen Klein, later sued The Verve when "Bittersweet Symphony" oversampled an orchestral arrangement of the Rolling Stones' "The … Read more

Google search reveals plagiarism by columnist and White House aide

His name is Timothy Goeglein, and, as Paul Kiel at Talking Points Memo points out, it is quite ironic that Google should be the cause of his professional demise.

Goeglein is a White House aide and, until today, wrote as a columnist for the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel. He was outed for plagiarism this morning when Nancy Nall, a former employee at the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, posted a blog entry detailing an innocent Google search she conducted on one of Goeglein's subjects. The search revealed that his latest column was almost completely lifted from another source (Jeffrey Hart, in this case, in an article for the Dartmouth review).

Since Nall's original posting, her readers and other bloggers have identified multiple instances of plagiarism. Timothy Goeglein has also fessed up. He told the Journal Gazette, "It is true. I am entirely at fault. It was wrong of me. There are no excuses." The News-Sentinel has announced that Goeglein will no longer be writing for the paper and will look into just how many of his columns may have been cribbed.

It's unclear what the fate of his other job will be. Goeglein serves as a Special Assistant to the President and works in the White House's Office of Public Liason. In 2004, the New York Times published a profile on Goeglein's role in the White House. David D. Kirkpatrick suggested Goeglein is an extension of Karl Rove, "even Mr. Rove has his limits -- calls he cannot make, hands he cannot shake and meetings he cannot attend. For those, he has Timothy Goeglein."… Read more

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EPISODE 45

Today CNET Senior Editor David Katzmaier joins us as we talk about how Steven Spielberg doesn't want Indy 4 DLP'd, why no one watched the Web-to-TV show Quarterlife, and Let's Fighting Love! We're giving away tons of prizes this week so show some love on The Facebook or call in to the show and leave a ridiculous voice mail--we may even play it on the air!

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