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War on Plagiarism Threat Level Analysis ©
A Five-Point Scale for Classifying Cases of Plagiarism
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Color-Coding and Threat Level Analyses: The Derivation Hypothesis
.... 
(Tongue-in-Cheek)
The color coding and categorization of current threat level (generally and individually)
as part of the "War on Plagiarism Threat Level Analysis" seems to
have been such a good idea that Tom Ridge and the Department of Homeland Security
decided to appropriate it for their own use in the "War on Terror"
! This was around the same time that British Intelligence was implicated in
the "sexed up" dossier scandal
involving plagiarism of a paper by graduate student Ibrahim al-Marashi.
With the coming of the Internet (many thanks to Al
Gore), even government intelligence services have found the cut-n-paste
temptation too much to resist. It seems just too much of a coincidence that
both the "War on Plagiarism" and the "War on Terror" would
use such a similar means of conveying the results of ongoing threat-level analyses.
Co-incidental, concurrent discoveries and inventions do happen on occasion.
But this is extremely rare.
What seems most likely to have occurred is that the CIA/NSA intercepted earlier
communications relating to the color-coding idea, and lifted this idea for their
own use in the then newly created Department of Homeland Security. Web traffic
statistics for this website reveal that the CIA has been monitoring www.famousplagiarists.com
/ www.waronplagiarism.org, strengthening this color-coding derivation hypothesis.
(Actual web stats for FamousPlagiarists.com,
April 2005)
However, this might also be due to the current, relevant, and insightful analysis
of the plagiarism perpetrated by
Osama bin Laden. After all, there is so much useful information on the Internet
that even governments now resort to mining
the web for intelligence purposes (a bit of CIA-MI6 cut-n-paste).
The "War on Plagiarism" and the "War on Terror"
The "War on Plagiarism" predates the "War on Terror" by
quite a few years, the war analogy being used since
the 1990s in reference to attempts by educators/scholars/editors and others
to counter the increasingly sophisticated technology of plagiarists. This fact
(i.e. the pre-dating of the war analogy) also bolsters the hypothesis that the
US government derived the color-coding idea from early communications (email,
Internet, telephone intercepts, etc.)going back and forth in the early dialog
of anti-plagiarism strategists.
Upon reviewing the backlog of intelligence in the post-9/11 self-study to see
what went wrong, intelligence analysts most likely discovered the "War
on Plagiarism" idea as well as the color-coding idea then being discussed
by anti-plagiarism strategists. Some un-named analyst passed these ideas further
up the chain of command until they were implemented in the "War on Terror"
construct and the use of a color coding scheme to represent current terrorism
threat levels.
The Derivation Hypothesis: Circumstantial Evidence is Enough in a Court of Law
to Convict and Award Damages to an Originator/Creator
As already noted, the Derivation Hypothesis
concerning the possibility of a war against a concept (i.e. plagiarism,
terrorism, obesity, drug use . . .), and also concerning the use of color coding
to communicate threat level analyses results, remains a difficult hypothesis
to substantiate. Cases of plagiarism frequently involve circumstantial evidence.
And there is very strong legal precedent for the upholding of such circumstantial
evidence in a court of law as the Three
Boys Music v. Michael Bolton (212.F.3d
477--9th Cir. 2000) case demonstrates, a case which resulted in copyright
infringement damages totaling $5.4 million dollars. If circumstantial evidence
can satisfy in jurors minds the criteria of access and similarity,
a ruling is likely to be upheld in favor of the originator of an idea as opposed
to the person/agency/corporation who plagiarizes, ex-appropriates, or otherwise
derives some benefit from the intellectual/artistic property which someone else
has created.
Resolution:
Anti-Plagiarism Strategists Decide Not to Seek Damages
Because of the usefulness of the color-coding scheme to represent current
terrorism threat levels, and out of a desire to see their ideas put to good
use in the "War on Terror", anti-plagiarists have decided not to seek
damages for the apparent appropriation of their ideas by the US government.
These ideas being vital to the war effort, and their effect not being diminished
by use within both the "War on Terror" and the "War on Plagiarism",
the anti-plagiarists hereby resolve to allow, without requiring any monetary
compensation, the continued use of the "War on Terror" construct and
the color-coding scheme to represent to the public the results of ongoing threat
level analyses.
(Tongue-in-Cheek)
.........................................................
Full disclosure: this color
coded 5 pt. scale for classifying plagiarists is a parody of the "War on
Terror". I nicked this color coded 5-pt. classification scale from the
Department of Homeland Security rather than vice versa (but I stick by the CIA
monitoring info above--stats do show these visits to my site--NSA is watching
!?!?).
Disclaimer: All of the famous plagiarists featured in this webspace remain “alleged plagiarists”, the documented allegations having been made by others in the professional literature and/or the popular media. Further details relating to these allegations will be forthcoming in the book edition of Famous Plagiarists. Although Dr. Lesko is a professor at Saginaw Valley State University, the Famous Plagiarists Research Project represents the individual research of John P. Lesko, plagiarologist, and SVSU accepts no responsibility for the content of these pages. Comments or questions should be directed to
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