Departments
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Week of 24 October 1997 |
Vol. I, No.9 |
Feature
Article
BU sues Internet term-paper mills
Following a sting operation that lasted several months, BU has filed suit against eight companies that sell term papers to students over the Internet. The University is asking a federal court to order the companies to stop distributing papers in Massachusetts -- where selling term papers is illegal -- and to pay punitive damages.
"We will take whatever steps are necessary to preserve the integrity of the academic process," said Jon Westling. "The vast majority of students at this University . . . are honest and hardworking, and their efforts must not be undercut by the few who would defraud universities, either as purchasers or purveyors of dishonest and illegal materials."
Although the companies' methods have changed in the 25 years since BU filed its first suit against a group of term-paper providers, Westling said, their impact hasn't changed. Companies used to advertise in the back of magazines and through flyers -- "Now they open a Web page and wait for students to contact them."
The sting operation was carried out by a member of the BU Office of the General Counsel. Posing as a student looking for an English-class term paper, she contacted several companies on the Internet and made it clear that she intended to pass the work off as her own. Each company provided a finished product, and many were printed with a title page for the particular course and student who ordered the paper -- this despite disclaimers on many Web pages asserting that the products were for "research purposes only."
This is the first time legal action has been directed at term-paper companies that operate over the Internet. BU took action in federal court because the eight companies are all located outside Massachusetts. The University claims that the companies are in violation of federal and state law and that their actions constitute a "pattern of racketeering activity." Accepting orders for fraudulent term papers and distributing them by telephone, wire, or mail constitutes wire or mail fraud and violates federal RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) laws.
On October 19, 1972, BU filed suit in Suffolk Superior Court and won an injunction against several term-paper companies then in operation. The following year, the Massachusetts Legislature passed a law making the practice illegal, and several other states have passed similar laws since then.