Cheaters on campus find a friend in the Web

May 26, 1997
Web posted at: 9:35 p.m. EDT (0135 GMT)

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (CNN) -- Cheating, a perennial problem on college campuses, has reached a new level due to the World Wide Web.

One option for cheaters is to use the Internet to look up somebody else's work, download it and pass it off as their own.

For instance, they could look up the site of Harvard University freshman Dorian Berger and find a number of A-grade term papers.

Among the titles: "The Goals and Failures of the First and Second Reconstruction" and "The Role of the Japanese Emperor in the Meiji Restoration."

"There's been, like, 13,000 people that have come to the site in three months, so it's kind of cool to think that many people are reading your papers," Berger said.

His papers are posted not so people can copy them, but so they can more easily research various topics, he says. Besides, he's proud of his work.

"They might cheat, but there are lots of places to cheat. You could go to the library and get a book. People are going to cheat if they want to cheat, and I don't think my Web page makes that much of a difference," he said.

Berger doesn't charge for his service, but others do, with names like "The Evil House of Cheat." Pay by the page, or there are flat rates of up to $70 for proven winners on almost any topic available. Mastercard and Visa are accepted.

The most popular site has had more than 600,000 visitors. "I read the papers sometimes," Harvard Freshman Kyle Clayton says. "I don't copy them, but I've definitely seen the papers before."

It seems even Harvard students need to look over a shoulder every once in a while.

Related stories:

• Man charged in college entrance exam cheating scheme - October 29, 1996
• Survey finds cheating not uncommon among top U.S. high school students - January 18, 1996

Related sites:

• Dorian Berger's Page
• -Evil House of Cheat- over 8000 essays, in over 40 catagories.
• School Sucks - Download Your Workload!

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