Students Using Turnitin.com Vulnerable to U.S. Patriot Act U.S.-~based anti-~plagiarism tool may be open to search under terror law Drew Halfnight and Kristina Jarvis and Josh Visser, The Eyeopener turnitin HOME Turnitin.com PRODUCTS and Services “Academic honesty is a concept that is vital for students to learn if i they are to build | strong character.” | mca ee ellie 7g ca bg Plagiarism Peer Review Rec pstudents Le Qe HOTO BY MEYSAM MOTAZEDI” a atinnal moteantial ORONTO (CUP)—Turnitin, an online anti-plagiarism tool ed by many university professors, may leave students vulner- le to surveillance by US officials. The database of Turnitin encrypts and stores student says in the United States, which means that student work uld be investigated under the controversial post-9/11 triot Act. Ryerson University pays approximately $10,000 each year the Californian company for its plagiarism prevention serv- , which compares student papers against its extensive data- se and generates a detailed “originality report” indicating ssible instances of plagiarism. Turnitin is one of many services used by Canadians that is sed in the United States. Under section 215 of the 2001 triot Act, US government officials are granted sweeping cess to public and private records “to protect against inter- tional terrorism.” Hypothetically, American officials could cross-check the tabase for keywords such as “bomb,” “terrorist plot” and ill George W. Bush,” and wind up with detailed information out essays using those terms. “Yes, US officials can get access to that sort of database,” id Susan Herman, a law professor specialist in terror legisla- on and member of the board of directors at the American vil Liberties Union (ACLU). But first, she said, “the officials uld need authorization of a special court of federal judges oO meet in secret.” Herman said that section 215 applies to “all custodians of ormation,” public or private, meaning libraries, financial mpanies or private databases. So with a court order obtained without probable cause pnewseditor@gmail.com TRAINING GradeMark Plagiarism Prevention ognized worldwide as plagiarism prevention, Turnitin helps educators and take full adyan f mre ieee neem refused Turnitin’s service on E-Mail: |) | Password: | those grounds, banning it and any other plagiarism-detection COMPANY Getting Started About Us Setting Walaa EN software that requires that stu- dents’ work become part of an external database where other patties might have access to it. Almost 400 local govern- ments and seven states have passed resolutions denouncing the Patriot Act. American libraries, universities and publish- ets have scrambled to conduct policy reviews to ensure they are not susceptible to FBI investiga- tions. At Ryerson, said Diane Schulman, secretary of Academic Council, “We’ve had very, very little concern about it. Most stu- dents are quite happy because it protects their work.” Schulman denied the danger, h SHY e GradeBook tage of the internet's ' Request a Quote from a secret court, the FBI could seize Turnitin’s data for investigation and use it for criminal investigations of Canadians. Many universities are already taking action to ensure that student information is subject to Canadian law exclusively. On Oct. 9, the University of Alberta switched its RefWorks data- basé from an American to a Canadian server. RefWorks is an American library research tool. A week ago, it was reported that “dozens” of schools including Memorial University of Newfoundland had made the same switch. “It’s a matter of privacy and how that relates to US laws,” said Karen Lippold, the Memorial University librarian who brought the RefWorks issue to light. “Searching a contentious subject could have serious repercussions on someone’s profes- sional life and their basic freedom.” Craig Smith, the director of the Centre for First Amendment Studies at California State University, says that since no one has taken the US government to court over Turnitin, it is difficult to know what the government can get away with. “Nobody’s tested that yet,” Smith said. “The problem with the Patriot Act is that private compa- nies cannot disclose when they have been forced to hand over information to the government,” said Joe Comartin, the NDP justice critic. “Students could be investigated by American authorities or by those in the Canadian intelligence services without their knowledge.” Few student unions or university administrations appear concerned about the implications of the Patriot Act. So far, only Mount Saint Vincent University in Nova Scotia has Purchase a Licens Secondary Education: saying student work “is stored digitally on secure servers,” and the university has the company’s assurance “it is not going to be given to anyone.” sales@turnitin, com Ryerson’s academic integrity Se ee ee ee Webvpiae saponin intellec- z tual ight: tected the standard in online 866-816-5046 e De peti fs con pana : y Turnitin’s privacy pledge. The Higher Education: “240 web page tells faculty “it is strongly suggested that you have all students submit papers direct- ly to Turnitin.com.” Still, some students and facul- ty are leery of entrusting impor- tant student privacy policy to the American company. Neil Thomlinson, chair of Ryerson’s politics and public administra- M2 tion program, was an early advocate of Turnitin and one of the first Ryerson profs to use it. “Nobody’s supposed to read the essays, it’s a completely electronic process,” he said, “but what concerns me, and what you should ask Turnitin.com, is ‘Can you guarantee that US officials can’t access this stuff?’ I just don’t know.” Turnitin did not offer any comment, despite numerous phone calls. On its website, Turnitin.com, the company explains that a team of lawyers determined its services were legally airtight. The website qualifies the above by saying, “whether new intel- lectual property apes are needed for students is open to debate.” “With the present fixation on security, no-fly lists, etc., I think it’s a valid question . . . I mean, it was pretty unlikely that Maher Arar would get shipped off to Syria, but that hap- pened,” said Thomlinson, who went on to say that Turnitin’s reports include the class, teacher and date of sources closely " matching submitted essays. “It’s of real concern for students, especially those of minority backgrounds who already feel targeted,” said Muhammad Ali Jabbar, president of the Ryerson Students’ Union. “We think it [Turnitin] should not be used. Many times students have come to us and show concern,” Jabbar added. About 3,000 institutions in more than 80 countries have signed on to Turnitin since it was created ten years ago. 3