Well evidently I fail at reading. Papers submitted to Turnitin are clearly exempted from the royalty-free, permanent, irrevocable license granted to them. You’d think rights to use ideas in Helpdesk tickets would be implied, but in today’s legal system in America… I guess not.
Well, I suppose I screwed up good. Apologies to iParadigms, LLC and anyone else I may have inadvertently insulted, libeled, and/or annoyed in my earlier post. I misread the Usage Policy and fell for mob mentality. A psychiatrist might say something more, but I’m not one.
Turnitin does not, in fact, blatantly dispose of students’ rights as my earlier post would have you believe. The clause in the Usage Policy appears to basically guarantee that they can use complaints and suggestions emailed or otherwise submitted to them. As stated above, I would have assumed that such a right would be implied. Evidently not.
Despite this, it should be noted that certain other claims against Turnitin still stand:
- It is commercial use without reimbursement. Sure, it’s in the interest of education, but I still don’t think that’s really fair. However, I don’t really take issue with this, and if this was the only problem, I’d write an apology and let the issue drop.
- Students are unable to remove their papers from the database. A minor issue? Maybe. And admittedly, it does strengthen the database - but still may not make it any more effective. Learn why in the resource provided below.
- Others may request to see the paper, but the student does not have to approve the request. This is a significant problem. If someone requests to see my paper because it’s similar to theirs, or their student’s, I want (a) to know about it and (b) to be the one to approve or reject it. I cannot understand why Turnitin assigned this power to teachers, and would like to see it changed.
In light of the proper reading of the Usage Policy, I no longer urge people not to use Turnitin, IF it is required for a grade. However, I urge students to protest mass submissions of students’ papers as an anti-plagiarism action by professors.
“The Well-Known Secret About Turnitin.com”
Please note that the earlier post referenced above has been removed from this site as it may have constituted libel, however it is available for research purposes upon request.
