Turnitin is playing both sides of the fence, helping instructors identify plagiarists while helping plagiarists avoid detection.
- Turnitin’s OriginalityCheck helps instructors check students’ work for improper citation or potential plagiarism;
- WriteCheck helps students by identifying unoriginal content in written work
- WriteCheck searches the same content as Turnitin.
It is akin to selling security systems to stores while allowing shoplifters to test whether putting tagged goods into bags lined with aluminum thwart the detectors.
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2011/09/the_effectivene_2.html
A little bit different from the story:
Using real viruses for testing in the real world is rather like setting fire to the dustbin in your office to see whether the smoke detector is working.
Some companies and people produce destruction and salvation by themselves to make more money.