Turnitin.com: The Intolerable Infringement of Student Rights

The Richmond High International Baccalaureate Programmes decision to extensively utilize Turnitin.com constitutes a direct violation of students rights. Firstly, the entire process is flawed as it assumes student dereliction and obligates the students to authenticate their inculpability. This directly contravenes Part I, Section 11, sub-Section d of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Furthermore, this reprehensible initiative necessitates students submit their compositions to a private company which thereupon capitalizes on their intellectual property. Moreover, Turnitin.com amalgamates these innovative works into a database, an infringement on the intellectual property rights of each individual. Turnitin.com asseverates it does not encroach upon the copyrights of students, but, in order to administer a database, the company must fabricate a facsimile. This means they potentially contravene the rights of every paper that is endowed to them. Also, the utilization of the service imperils the identities of the students.

Suggestions:

1.Suspend the use of Turnitin.com until a concordance can be reached.

2.Utilize Turnitin.com as a tool only after gathering evidence that would support probable cause that would warrant a submittal.

3.The utilization of aliases to safeguard the identities of all students, as prescribed by Turnitin.com: If you submit a paper on behalf of a student for evaluation by Turnitin.com, use an alias instead of the student's name.

- Alex Chartrand