- 24/12/2022
- Category: Commentaries
Author: Hilman Nurjaman
Editor: M Perdana Karim
In today’s digital space, the internet can be said to be a source of temptation to copy or steal ideas, words, and everything related to other people’s intellectual rights that are difficult to resist [1]. The works presented in digital media are readily and freely available through internet databases. How come educational, research, and entertainment activities are currently associated with digital media, which facilitates the publication of the results of these activities? At the same time, the act of copying or plagiarism seems to be a natural act to do in a digital space filled with a lot of data and information that has become public consumption. Moreover, in this case, the pandemic has increased almost all physical activities to online internet-mediated activities, so borrowing or copying materials are becoming more common with the aim of streamlining work and time.
Features such as copy and paste have become a working mechanism in operating data through technological tools that put knowledge and creativity under threat [2]. Of course, with the presence of these features, copyright infringement increases in digital media. Every individual with easy access to internet data is unknowingly exposed to the risk of vulnerability to acts of stealing ideas or materials from other people’s content. Official data has become the main subject in the copy-paste culture that has permeated the academic and creative processes [3]. Not only is crime openly monitored in the media, but this kind of copy-paste culture also expands the reach of cybercrime patterns in hyper-connectivity. Thus, this paper attempts to frame copy-paste culture as a form of plagiarism with the association between creators, works, and content audiences in digital media.
Copy-Paste Culture as a Form of Digital Plagiarism
In hyperconnection, copyright is no longer only related to written works but various digital works, including images, videos, soundtracks, or other content that is spread in large numbers on the internet [4]. The interaction between creators, works, and content lovers in digital media leads to more plagiarism practices when the copy-paste feature can be accessed so readily. Moreover, the multi-window display available on various web-based platforms or social media supports the aggregation and presentation of complex information so that it can be accepted by readers or listeners [5]. In addition, this open source also opens the tendency to the risk of digital plagiarism. The tendency to copy other people’s work is seen as a form of compromise on the principle of efficiency, including when it comes to academic dynamics that are prone to plagiarism [6]. Determining official and trusted sources of writing becomes a temptation to take advantage of the copy-paste feature to produce a final article worthy of appreciation. Moreover, the dynamics of competition in academic spaces encourage students to get good grades.
In an academic context, plagiarism is generally interpreted as an ethical violation in copying other people’s work [7]. Several writers in the past have summarized plagiarism in a definition that is understood as the act of taking someone else’s work without going through the attribution process, without editing anything of value into the material, and distributing it as if it were one’s work, thereby obtaining an unfair advantage ethically [8]. The ethical boundaries in the academic context often emphasize what is meant by copying or borrowing ideas spread on the internet, which can be categorized as digital plagiarism. The rule of law in cases of plagiarism can usually impose sanctions or penalties on processes considered disharmonious. Thus, framing plagiarism as an ethical violation is an action that limits similar violations. Therefore, protection and control, both physical and logical, are urgent to reflect on to prevent the copying of official content through illegal access, so the practice of attribution of content, whether written or other digital content, needs to get used to it [9]. In other words, the phenomenon of plagiarism through copy-paste culture on the internet platforms is a cybercrime that is almost not easy to stop, but that does not mean it is impossible to minimize or prevent crimes in the digital space.
There should be no significant difficulties in preventing plagiarism because plagiarism detection media become available as technological advances can help anti-plagiarism. In the digital environment, copying other people’s work is classified as computer or cybercrime that deserves sanctions [10]. Through the discourse of digital norms and ethics, prevention methods can be improved to prevent bad actions that take advantage that should and harm other parties [11]. However, in practice, it is unclear how far digital ethics can be in controlling user actions involving such complex mechanisms. Considering that digital content protection strategies still need to be improved further, as has been pointed out, it is a shared urgency to prevent a culture of copy-pasting without careful attribution by participating in disseminating knowledge about intellectual property in the general digital space.
Conclusion
Crime in digital media is faced with complex boundaries because data spread on the internet develops quickly and can be accessed easily. The feature of copy-paste is one of the temptations that can cause harm from the digital interaction between creators, works, and content audiences. In this case, attribution can be applied individually as a form of prevention, especially in an academic context. However, none of the plagiarism prevention mechanisms mediated by the copy-paste culture can prevent it wholly and entirely. Giving sanctions or punishments to perpetrators of plagiarism cannot be interpreted in a standardized approach because it depends on who, what, and how the action provides advantages and disadvantages for the digital actors involved. Thus, it is highly expected that there will be collective awareness of the contribution of law and the role of technological media that collaborate to suppress acts of plagiarism through copy-pasting under the pretext of work efficiency.
[1] Ćapara, D. et al. (2013) ‘Plagiarism and Copyright Protection on the Internet’, Međunarodni naučni skup Sinergija, 00(0), pp. 240–247.
[2] The Plagiariasm. (2017) Plagiarism-A Cyber Crime. The Plagiarism. https://theplagiarism.com/articles/plagiarism-a-cyber-crime
[3] Ibid.
[4] Nainar, Nahla. (2020) Copy-paste? Think twice: A deep dive into the world of online plagiarism. The Hindu. https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/internet/online-plagiarism-content-digital-theft-off-internet/article32599898.ece
[5] Kauffman, Y. and Young, M. F. (2015) ‘Digital plagiarism: An experimental study of the effect of instructional goals and copy-and-paste affordance’, Computers and Education, 83, pp. 44–56. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2014.12.016.
[6] Biagioli, M. (2014) ‘Plagiarism, Kinship and Slavery’, Theory, Culture & Society, 31(2/3), pp. 65–91. doi: 10.1177/0263276413516372.
[7] Ramalho, A. and Silva, M. S. (2020) ‘“I know It When I See It”: On Academic Plagiarism, and How to Assess It’, Higher Education for the Future, 7(2), pp. 187–199. doi: 10.1177/2347631120932238.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Merueñas, Mark D. (2012) Plagiarism punishable under Cybercrime Law—De Lima. GMA News. https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/scitech/technology/276514/plagiarism-punishable-under-cybercrime-law-de-lima/story/
[10] Icove, D., Segar, K., and VonStorch W. (2006). Computer Crime, A Crimefighter’s Handbook. O’Reilly & Associates.[11] Nye Jr., J. S. (2017) ‘Deterrence and Dissuasion in Cyberspace’, International Security, 41, pp. 44–71. doi: 10.1162/ISEC.
