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Accused of Academic Dishonesty -- because someone else stole work.

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student01

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? CA

I believe that academic dishonesty in any shape or form should not be condoned. However, although I've found a plethora of advice on how to capture a plagiarist, I have found little to help those college students who are the ones plagiarized. Let me explain.

A person I know is accused of academic dishonesty from writing a paper that is a close match to another student from the same quarter. They turned in a final project in roughly the same time period -- so it is difficult to prove who stole who's work. Let's say that this person did not plagiarize. It is a possibility that his or her paper may have been stolen because he or she lives in a college dormitory -- with a high potential for unknown shared networks, people coming into the room and looking at the paper, being hacked through e-mail, or various other scenarios. The university accused him or her of cheating, but has not told him or her who the other perpetrator is.

As a college freshmen utilizing the college (shared) connection, he or she may not be aware of the fact that his files may be leaked to the network due to lack of firewall.

Does this person have a case? And what are some realistic approaches to prove innocence?

I've searched many many resources and was disappointed to not be able to find anything substantial to help this case. Is it really impossible to do anything about it?

This person is not me -- I am personally curious because I want to know so I know how much precautions I need to place on myself when I am using campus computing resources (or even university e-mail) to submit my work. I was rather surprised (and frustrated) to find what little this person can do -- even though he or she is the one who is the victim here. It is a shame to work honestly, only to have plagiarism and an F placed on your record.

Thank you in advance for your help
 
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Crazed98

Member
My guess is that both students copied the paper from the same source either another student or the same website.

But if your theory is correct it would be very difficult to prove that the student hacked into the school server/network/email or whatever. That is something very difficult to do. I'm not saying it can't be done but you not anyone can do something like that and I doubt they would be doing it to steal a paper.

The only way to prove he did something like that would be to have a police investigation authorized by the school or have the comp administrators of the school look into it but they would have to confiscate the suspects computer and I doubt the school will go through all that it is easier to go with the liklier caus eI listed above and make them both guilty.
 

JETX

Senior Member
Actually, depending on what software was used to create the paper, it is fairly easy to determine who was first (if that is the case). Microsoft office software (MS Word, Excel, etc.) records the create date/time for the document. This is NOT the same thing as the 'normal' file create date which could be spoofed. A knowledgeable computer tech should be able to derive who was first.
 

student01

Junior Member
Well, it's not necessarily hacked but more like hijacked. This is an issue especially with the growth of technology.

The dorms run on a shared-network which means that there is pretty much a lower-level of security available on the network. What happens is that most people don't know that their computers may automatically allow their files to be shared over a network. Upon plugging their computers to the ethernet connection, some computers are vulnerable to other computers because other computers may easily just go on Network Neighborhood and access other hard drives' My documents, Printer settings, My Downloads etc.

In this case, the file creation argument may not work. I am thinking there is little to prove for this person's case, which is rather unfortunate. I've thought of analyzing a person's writing style and such, but it may be rather hard to pinpoint especially since it is a lower-division writing course.

Thanks for trying guys. I guess this is a no solution case.
 

Crazed98

Member
JETX said:
Actually, depending on what software was used to create the paper, it is fairly easy to determine who was first (if that is the case). Microsoft office software (MS Word, Excel, etc.) records the create date/time for the document. This is NOT the same thing as the 'normal' file create date which could be spoofed. A knowledgeable computer tech should be able to derive who was first.

You are right but the time and date of the file can easily be altered by simply changing the time and date on your computer and then recreating the file by copying and pasting it.

(I just noticed "This is NOT the same thing as the 'normal' file create date which could be spoofed." what do you mean by that. There is only 1 creation date when a file or document is made.)
 

JETX

Senior Member
Crazed98 said:
You are right but the time and date of the file can easily be altered by simply changing the time and date on your computer and then recreating the file by copying and pasting it.

(I just noticed "This is NOT the same thing as the 'normal' file create date which could be spoofed." what do you mean by that. There is only 1 creation date when a file or document is made.)
Nope. You are not correct. As I said.... Microsoft work products (Office, Excel, etc.) use a 'document create date' which is different than the file date. And yes, it can be changed... but you have to know how to do it.
Further, it is highly unlikely that anyone would have the foresight to change the system clock BEFORE doing the create date as most students arent' that 'intelligent' (and don't think they will get caught). My wife is a high school business teacher and they catch student cheats all the time by this method.

Hint: Open a a Microsoft office file. Click on File, then Properties. You will see a create date, a modified date and an access date. Then look under statistics. Some of these dates you cannot change.... and are not system clock dependent. And yes, there are other file audit tools available. And no, I will not tell you how to get to them!! :D
 

Crazed98

Member
Hhhmmmmmmmmm....

I guess you learn something new everyday.

But I wasn't completely incorrect.

You just need to create a new file and then copy and paste all the info from the old file into the new blank one and save it after your computer is set back.

The document is dependant on the system clock but once it is created it never changes.

This will definatly help me when I go to college thanks a lot JETX.

btw what do you mean by file audit tools or did you mean file EDIT tools?
 

JETX

Senior Member
Nope. Audit tools. They are a function of the system administrator level access to certain parts of the Microsoft software.
 

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