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Plagiarism & Facebook!!!

Please give your advice to this 'theoretical' story.

Say that at Uni, you were set some sort of assignment to do, that involved calculations etc in order to complete it. Say that you handed in this work, and had done everything on your own with no help from anyone else.

Then let's say, one of your 'friends' in the group, decides to post the answers to 10 odd people in the class on their individual Facebook Walls. Bear in mind, you did not ask for this information, and plus, your work had been handed in, so you had no need for it.

Then, let's say that a particular University did some snooping, and found all these posts on various walls. They then accused you of Plagiarism. Even though the facts above show you did not use it, they will dock a large percentage of marks from a module due to the fact that you had this on your wall (their argument being that you should have taken it off...) and that you are aiding Plagiarism by not monitoring your own personal space and have shared answers to students that could have been of use.

How would people legally view the situation? Is this valid?

Reply 1

evil groove

I'd say that is completely unfair of the uni. Never mind legalities, go to your department and kick up an exasperated and self-righteous fuss, protest and insist upon your innocence in the matter. Do it.

Reply 2

99p And A Flake

I agree with Schokis. Say that you never use facebook anyway. Would it be your problem if the answers had been stuck on the outside of your halls or flat? Or is it your fault if your computer is sent a virus? It's the poster's fault, not yours. Make LOTS of fuss :biggrin:

Reply 3

F1 fanatic

Id argue its very hard to argue calculations on the grounds of plagiarism. A proof perhaps? but calculations from your peers is not in my book plagiarism, but there we go. This is assuming it's not under exam conditions.

Reply 4

JT87

You said that you handed it in before it was posted on you wall right? Why don't you match up the date it was posted on you wall against the date that you handed it in?

Reply 5

Tucking Fypo

Threads like these sometimes make me think, "should I join my Uni's network in Septemer?"

Reply 6

misswilliams

Surely, the post is date stamped and shows it was posted AFTER you handed it in?

JT87

You said that you handed it in before it was posted on you wall right? Why don't you match up the date it was posted on you wall against the date that you handed it in?

Two minds

Reply 7

evil groove

misswilliams

Surely, the post is date stamped and shows it was posted AFTER you handed it in?

It seems their argument is not that the O.P.'s work was copied from someone else, but that he has somehow facilitated plagiarism by not deleting the answers off of his Wall.

Reply 8

misswilliams

Schokis

It seems their argument is not that the O.P.'s work was copied from someone else, but that he has somehow facilitated plagiarism by not deleting the answers off of his Wall.

Oooh.

It is a tad late, sorry!

Reply 9

in_jeopardy

Schokis

It seems their argument is not that the O.P.'s work was copied from someone else, but that he has somehow facilitated plagiarism by not deleting the answers off of his Wall.

Even so, they have no right to take marks from the work.

I agree, kick up an almighty fuss, as much as you can manage, in front of the highest ranking member of staff that you can wangle. And keep doing it until you are heard.

Reply 10

evil groove

in_jeopardy

Even so, they have no right to take marks from the work.

Ooh I know.

Reply 11

FadeToBlackout

You have a Student's Union. If you can't resolve the situation yourself, go to them and kick up a bigger fuss. You may also have student newspapers who would probably love to write up the story.

Reply 12

PhantomBoggler

I agree with all the replies here (except the idea of kicking up a fuss about a theoretical situation!). Hypothetically speaking you could create a fake profile for someone else, write the 'answers' on their wall, and call it in as plagiarism, for which they had no idea about.
Furthermore, I think it might even be that should you delete the wall message, (bearing in mind there was no communication from them asking you to do so) it would be seen as your "covering up" and trying to hide the evidence of your supposed plagiarisation.

Reply 13

Michelle0509

how about making your facebook private so no one but your friends can see you page?? (this is probably a good idea anyway to avoid stuff like identity theft or just genrally people checking up on you) although if this is not as theoretical as you claim it is it may be too late