Online Plagiarist Sues University

raistphrk writes "The Reg reports that an English student at the University of Kent has sued the university after the university caught him ripping his papers off the Internet and kicked him out of the English program. I guess the stakes are now being raised for universities that use services to check for plagiarized papers."

I stole

[Anonymous Coward]

I stole someone else fp. I couldn't figure out how to write my own.

Huh?

[arcanumas]

Are you *sure* this is in England and not in South Park Colorado?

maybe he should...

[shagrat]

sue his parents, and anyone else he has ever interacted with, for producing either an idiot or a liar, whichever he is.

Re:Gah. Stupid university.

[thoth]

Heh, the University should say they only found out about the problem on the last day, and that they decided to award an honorary degree to the service he used, and a F to the student.

Maybe he sucks at english..

[t_allardyce]

On the other hand, hes top of the class in his law module!

Re:Wow next thing you know...

[Soporific]

He should try this on secret service by plagiarizing some currency and see how far he gets.

~S

Re:This person is a complete retard

[AndroidCat]

I wonder if serial killers will try this? "Well, you should have stopped me before #27. How was I supposed to know it was wrong?"

Re:This person is a complete retard

[EvilTwinSkippy]

I wonder if serial killers will try this? "Well, you should have stopped me before #27. How was I supposed to know it was wrong?"

Well actually that's called the insanity defense.

Re:Wow next thing you know...

[Nutria]

Or "I didn't know McDonalds coffee was hot and that if I drive with a cup between my legs and hit a bump in the road, that I'll get scalded".

Re:Penalties for getting caught

[Anonymous Coward]

I studied music at Music College and had to write and submit a complete symphony. A daunting task, I'm sure you can appreciate. To ease matters I decided to adopt some, ahem, "creative plaigarism". So armed with an illegally acquired master key, I crept into the College archives in the dead of night and unearthed my tutors effort from when he was a young man. Armed with this rather pedestrian effort I proceeded to adapt it to my requirements. To put it simply, I copied the symphony note for note but, wait for it, backwards! Cunning, I'm sure you'll agree.

A couple of days after submission, I was summoned to my tutors office whereupon he quizzed me in order to discover if I understood the musical ideas I had presented. After several minutes of this, my tutor finally proclaimed that he loved the piece with it's cornucopia of radical new innovations that would influence composers for years, nay, centuries to come. However, he couldn't understand why I had ever thought I would get away with claiming responsibility for Beethoven's Third.

Outraged with my audacity, he was primed to eject me from the College at once and it was only a swift explanation of how I had come to inadvertantly rewrite such a famous work that thwarted his dasterdly plan. To cut a long story short, to this day no-one but he or I know of our dirty deed. Mwahahahaha.

Re:That isn't his complaint.

[NoMoreNicksLeft]

Whether he wins or loses that case, you have to ask yourself, would you want to HIRE him to work for you?

I wouldn't want him myself, but apparently there is no end to the number of companies that would want to hire him into management. Shame he went after an english degree, his real talent was in law.

Re:Need Yet Another Warning Label?

[shams42]

Do not look at laser with remaining eye.

Re:That isn't his complaint.

[Anonymous Coward]

I say he should sue his high school or his parents, because when you've reached university level your should have picked up the common fucking sense to know that plagiarism is not ok on the way somewhere. God dammit, kids these days... do we have to write you a fucking manual to know that you should be wearing pants to class?

Re:Wow next thing you know...

[Paradise Pete]

Also similar to the "I didn't know smoking was bad for me" argument

Except that the University (presumably) didn't place ads showing beautiful people having a wonderful time and enjoying life because they were downloading papers off the internet.

Re:That isn't his complaint.

[uncleFester]

Whether he wins or loses that case, you have to ask yourself, would you want to HIRE him to work for you?

In a heartbeat.

Sincerely,
L. Hubert Platt, esq.
Platt, Platt, Dewey, Cheetham, Howe & Platt, LLC

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Burgulars?

[Colonel Cholling]

Is that people who steal your neck-vein?

Re:Maybe he sucks at english..

[t_allardyce]

Actually i goto uni of westminster doing media tech (electronic engineering). We have plenty of un-related side courses - french, japaneese, management, maths, maths, maths! AHHH not more maths! :(

Re:That isn't his complaint.

[Sexy Bern]

I hear the Daily Mirror has a vacancy.

Oh wait, you were talking about newspapers...

Re:Wow next thing you know...

[Ryosen]

>>In that single sentence, you've summed up the root cause of almost everything wrong in today's society.

Hey! That's not my fault!

Re:Wow next thing you know...

[vsprintf]

Usually, it does go the other way, too, just to be fair; if a girl orders you a few drinks, takes you home and you say yes, and then you wake up the next morning and realize, "Oh my God, what the Hell was I thinking?" then, technically, she raped you.

There's a rather obvious disparity there. If she takes you home and forces a Viagra pill down your throat, then you might have a case -- or a vivid imagination.

Re:Wow next thing you know...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, and it isn't like the National Coffee Association would say whatever its members wanted it to say about best practice, regardless of any safety issues involved. Oh wait, they would? Nevermind.

Re:Wow next thing you know...

[Dogtanian]

and not just going to be easily swayed because of a chemical in their brain.

Whereas with most guys, from the age of 12 or so, we have this chemical in our brain that makes us easily swayed when it comes to sex. All the damn time.

Maybe that's why I never get laid. Hmm. Nice guys finish last.. *Sigh*

Finishing last is definitely A Good Thing when it comes to sex...

Re:This person may have a relative named DARL.

[cgenman]

I can just imagine the disclosure request for:
A list of all assignments on which you cheated
For each such assignment on which you cheated,
A description of where and how you obtained your work,
any agreements you engaged in to obtain it,
how much (if anything) you paid for each assignment, and
how you think the markers should have recognized your cheat.

He'll probably just crib the list from someone else.

Re:Plagerism is business

[Michael Woodhams]

I have an English BA, which I picked up accidentally while working on my CS BS.

Response 1:
So you're the bastard whose got it! I just put it down for a few minutes beside the printer in the computer lab, and when I got back it was gone!

Response 2:
Lucky sod - the rest of us have to work at picking up girls/guys.

Re:There is an issue here

[PsiPsiStar]

Such chuckling will henceforth be refered to as " the Ieshan effect"

Re:Plagerism is business

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

Before all the English Majors start whining, I should mention that I have an English BA, which I picked up accidentally while working on my CS BS, so I know what the hell I'm talking about.

That's nothing. While studying for my maths degree, I picked up three PhDs, two MBAs and a Diploma in Human Resources Management, and all without leaving my e-mail client.

Re:Wow next thing you know...

[pipingguy]

In the USA, also, consent is implied unless explicitly denied

Now we know the precedent for opt-out spam and why my email inbox is raped daily.

Re:With women, You get what you expect...

[MntlChaos]

You should consider using your powers of observation and judgement of character

And you should use yours to detect humor