5 ms·

Why does Turnitin get to keep a copy of all of my work for free? Do I not own the copyright of my papers?

hackmiester 4y ago
This was my issue and was why I refused to use it.
frereubu 4y ago
OK, this objection sort of makes sense to me. Do they have something in their Ts and Cs which says "by submitting your work you consent to us storing your work..."? Presumably people who submit their work to them also benefit to some extent though, because then plagiarisers of your work will be caught?
- woofcat 4y ago
  Often you don't really have a choice, if you're enrolled in a school. Tough luck you get to give up your rights.
  - google234123 4y ago
    You don’t have a choice if your grader/professor keeps a copy either.
    - tedunangst 4y ago
      Most people are probably less concerned about their prof running a business off a desk drawer of old papers.
    - jopsen 4y ago
      But technically, you have recourse if your professor distributes the paper. In practice, this could easily fall under fair-use, though, since the paper isn't distributed for the purpose of consumption.
  - kube-system 4y ago
    Just because something is commonly practiced without choice, doesn't mean that it is legally defensible, which is what the person above was questioning. Authors generally have right to their works by default, even students. Those who use copyrighted works for academic purposes do get some exceptions to copyright law.... but a commercial service is not this. Furthermore, student assignments are additionally protected by FERPA. I'm not sure the answer, but I do think it's a great question.
- treesknees 4y ago
  >When a paper is submitted to Turnitin, it is compared against a vast, secure proprietary database of licensed source material, including millions of periodicals, academic journals, books, and web pages. Turnitin also maintains a separate repository of student papers. Each institution (at the discretion of his or her school administrator) can determine whether or not to include student papers in the repository. We can remove student papers from the standard repository at the request of a school administrator. https://help.turnitin.com/Privacy_and_Security/Privacy_and_Security.htm https://help.turnitin.com/Privacy_and_Security/Privacy_and_S... So your school or university are really deciding whether your paper is stored for future plagiarism checks.
  - crtasm 4y ago
    Defaults to on. I'd hope it's explained clearly and the institution is forced to choose on or off during signup, not buried somewhere in the settings.
google234123 4y ago
They don’t claim to own your paper though.
- woofcat 4y ago
  So by that logic I can pirate all content, and as long as I don't claim it's mine it's not violating copyright laws? U.S. copyright law provides copyright owners with the following exclusive rights: - Reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords. - Prepare derivative works based upon the work. - Distribute copies or phonorecords of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership or by rental, lease, or lending. - Perform the work publicly if it is a literary, musical, dramatic, or choreographic work; a pantomime; or a motion picture or other audiovisual work. - Display the work publicly if it is a literary, musical, dramatic, or choreographic work; a pantomime; or a pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work. -Perform the work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission if the work is a sound recording. Copyright also provides the owner of copyright the right to authorize others to exercise these exclusive rights, subject to certain statutory limitations.
  - anyfoo 4y ago
    Not trying to stir something, genuinely trying to find the line/difference, so this may be a dumb question, but: By that logic, isn't it the same for Google? They keep a copy of your content in their cache/index (you can even get the indexed page directly from their cache).
  - woofcat 4y ago
    >anyfoo You can opt out of that, also it's published content and caching has a carved out exception. When you use this service at a school the teacher submits your paper to the service and they store it to validate against other students papers as well. They don't only check against "published" sources.
  - jagged-chisel 4y ago
    If I'm not entirely mistaken, online copyright enforcement has focused on sharing/sending/transmitting unlicensed copyrighted work. It has not enforced downloading against the downloader. So, sure - download to your heart's content. Which means TurnItIn has little incentive to keep works out of their database - you can't make a claim against them if they don't publicize that your work is in it.
red_trumpet 4y ago
Well, it might be in your interest to know if someone plagiarizes you. I don't know anything about Turnitin, though I doubt they notify the original copyright holder? If you provide copies of your work for free on the internet, this is why they get to keep one, just as everyone else? They are probably not allowed to distribute it, though?
- xypage 4y ago
  I don't think they're talking about posting your work for free on the internet, they mean when you submit an assignment for a class turnitin stores your assignment so they can check future submissions against yours. In this case, you haven't (necessarily) shared it anywhere public, all you did was submit it to your teacher, and now turnitin gets a copy forever.
ineptech 4y ago
Presumably because someone with the rights to distribute it, either you or your school, uploaded it to them. A more interesting question is, if these companies do well and stay in business a long time, won't it become increasingly difficult to write an original paper that isn't flagged for plagiarism? There's only so many ways to describe the effects of the Lend-Lease Act on postwar Europe.

This was my issue and was why I refused to use it.

OK, this objection sort of makes sense to me. Do they have something in their Ts and Cs which says "by submitting your work you consent to us storing your work..."? Presumably people who submit their work to them also benefit to some extent though, because then plagiarisers of your work will be caught?

woofcat 4y ago
Often you don't really have a choice, if you're enrolled in a school. Tough luck you get to give up your rights.
- google234123 4y ago
  You don’t have a choice if your grader/professor keeps a copy either.
  - tedunangst 4y ago
    Most people are probably less concerned about their prof running a business off a desk drawer of old papers.
  - jopsen 4y ago
    But technically, you have recourse if your professor distributes the paper. In practice, this could easily fall under fair-use, though, since the paper isn't distributed for the purpose of consumption.
- kube-system 4y ago
  Just because something is commonly practiced without choice, doesn't mean that it is legally defensible, which is what the person above was questioning. Authors generally have right to their works by default, even students. Those who use copyrighted works for academic purposes do get some exceptions to copyright law.... but a commercial service is not this. Furthermore, student assignments are additionally protected by FERPA. I'm not sure the answer, but I do think it's a great question.
treesknees 4y ago
>When a paper is submitted to Turnitin, it is compared against a vast, secure proprietary database of licensed source material, including millions of periodicals, academic journals, books, and web pages. Turnitin also maintains a separate repository of student papers. Each institution (at the discretion of his or her school administrator) can determine whether or not to include student papers in the repository. We can remove student papers from the standard repository at the request of a school administrator. https://help.turnitin.com/Privacy_and_Security/Privacy_and_Security.htm https://help.turnitin.com/Privacy_and_Security/Privacy_and_S... So your school or university are really deciding whether your paper is stored for future plagiarism checks.
- crtasm 4y ago
  Defaults to on. I'd hope it's explained clearly and the institution is forced to choose on or off during signup, not buried somewhere in the settings.

google234123 4y ago

They don’t claim to own your paper though.

woofcat 4y ago
So by that logic I can pirate all content, and as long as I don't claim it's mine it's not violating copyright laws? U.S. copyright law provides copyright owners with the following exclusive rights: - Reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords. - Prepare derivative works based upon the work. - Distribute copies or phonorecords of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership or by rental, lease, or lending. - Perform the work publicly if it is a literary, musical, dramatic, or choreographic work; a pantomime; or a motion picture or other audiovisual work. - Display the work publicly if it is a literary, musical, dramatic, or choreographic work; a pantomime; or a pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work. -Perform the work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission if the work is a sound recording. Copyright also provides the owner of copyright the right to authorize others to exercise these exclusive rights, subject to certain statutory limitations.
- anyfoo 4y ago
  Not trying to stir something, genuinely trying to find the line/difference, so this may be a dumb question, but: By that logic, isn't it the same for Google? They keep a copy of your content in their cache/index (you can even get the indexed page directly from their cache).
- woofcat 4y ago
  >anyfoo You can opt out of that, also it's published content and caching has a carved out exception. When you use this service at a school the teacher submits your paper to the service and they store it to validate against other students papers as well. They don't only check against "published" sources.
- jagged-chisel 4y ago
  If I'm not entirely mistaken, online copyright enforcement has focused on sharing/sending/transmitting unlicensed copyrighted work. It has not enforced downloading against the downloader. So, sure - download to your heart's content. Which means TurnItIn has little incentive to keep works out of their database - you can't make a claim against them if they don't publicize that your work is in it.

red_trumpet 4y ago

Well, it might be in your interest to know if someone plagiarizes you. I don't know anything about Turnitin, though I doubt they notify the original copyright holder? If you provide copies of your work for free on the internet, this is why they get to keep one, just as everyone else? They are probably not allowed to distribute it, though?

xypage 4y ago
I don't think they're talking about posting your work for free on the internet, they mean when you submit an assignment for a class turnitin stores your assignment so they can check future submissions against yours. In this case, you haven't (necessarily) shared it anywhere public, all you did was submit it to your teacher, and now turnitin gets a copy forever.

ineptech 4y ago

Presumably because someone with the rights to distribute it, either you or your school, uploaded it to them. A more interesting question is, if these companies do well and stay in business a long time, won't it become increasingly difficult to write an original paper that isn't flagged for plagiarism? There's only so many ways to describe the effects of the Lend-Lease Act on postwar Europe.