Erin Posted January 1, 2007 Share Posted January 1, 2007 I'll cut to the chase here. Do NOT violate copyright laws. Do NOT make requests of others to do the same. Do NOT link to sites that are widely known to violate copyright laws. Offending members will be banned. I know some of you will wonder why I'm using such strong language. Over the last year or so, a few things have happened behind the scenes that I'm not really at liberty to discuss, but here is one thing I can tell you: One of our members recently called me on the telephone. S/he had received a phone call directly someone from ETS in New Jersey about a post s/he made here. ETS threatened some sort of action against the test taker, but a final decision wasn't made when I talked to this person. S/he was told that the matter would be referred to committee for discussion, and that's all I know about it. But there's more that all of you need to be aware of. This is what I'm sure of: Our forums are being monitored by large organizations and their lawyers. At least one company is using a bot to scan our forums for certain content. Some members here participate at least partly in admissions decisions at prestigious schools. This is what I suspect: I believe our forums are read by paid admissions officers from various schools. I also believe that some of our members are notifying schools and organizations of copyright infringement. Folks, it is just wrong to violate copyright laws. If you see any copyright violations, please notify me immediately. I'd like to keep this thread open for thoughtful discussion of the issues here, and although I welcome your feedback, I really have no choice in the matter in terms of the action I must take. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tino Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 While I agree that no one should violate copyright law, and I think WAY too many people here link to sites that are using copyrighted material as content and then using google adwords to make money, in other words: stealing work and selling it.... basically thieves, I do not think that admissions departments at any universities are monitoring posts here in some attempt to find out bad people and have that effect their admissions. (which seems to be what you are hinting). I imagine that is illegal, but even more to the point, impossible..... Also, I have noticed that most of the free material on TOEFL out there is all for the OLD TOEFL, not the iBT, so just a note to all TOEFL people: that free material is not only stolen, it is also probably worthless to you! Cheers, Tino Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erin Posted January 2, 2007 Author Share Posted January 2, 2007 Tino, I'm not sure what may come of a paid admissions officer reading these threads; I simply suspect some do. I agree with you about the spamming to download sites just to make money from Google. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knok Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 Thanks Erin for bringing it up. Many international students may not be aware of this issue. American society takes this issue seriously. You may be kicked out of schools if you violate this law. What is copyright infringement? Please read the link below. http://www.whatiscopyright.org/ Knok Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalmLogic Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 BTW, as a public service message, I would point out that it's never a good idea in any forum to use your real name. Getting slapped on the wrist by ETS is nothing compared to having a stalker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tseprep Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 BTW, as a public service message, I would point out that it's never a good idea in any forum to use your real name. Getting slapped on the wrist by ETS is nothing compared to having a stalker. It makes sense, let's be careful but helpful.:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erin Posted January 5, 2007 Author Share Posted January 5, 2007 See those 112 guests on the forum right now? That's a bot from a company that scans websites for copyright stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalmLogic Posted January 5, 2007 Share Posted January 5, 2007 ETS threatened some sort of action against the test taker, but a final decision wasn't made when I talked to this person. S/he was told that the matter would be referred to committee for discussion, and that's all I know about it.It seems anyone at ETS without knowlege of legal matters can accuse you of anything and refer you to a committee, even if you just discuss the topics that were covered in a recent exam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erin Posted January 5, 2007 Author Share Posted January 5, 2007 I have PM'd you about your concerns. Also, there's nothing wrong with discussing the test in vague terms; it's the disclosure of test items (questions) that they're concerned about. The person who got the phone call from ETS had disclosed the actual question he got on his/her recent test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tino Posted January 5, 2007 Share Posted January 5, 2007 Jeez, calm down calmlogic! :-) ETS is not the CIA (I guess). Just note to everyone here: 1) Don't put this cool site in jeopardy by posting blantantly coprighted items 2) DONT USE YOUR REAL NAME! Have you never used an internet forum before? Really...... Tino Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalmLogic Posted January 5, 2007 Share Posted January 5, 2007 The person who got the phone call from ETS had disclosed the actual question...Allegedly. I remember that poster. Ironically, the poster may have done ETS a favor since s/he may have mentioned a question that was unfairly ambiguous. The poster just wanted to know if ETS made an error. For example, in 2003, ETS withdrew 5 questions from a single subject test (7% of the 70 questions asked) because the questions were unfair or ambiguous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knok Posted January 6, 2007 Share Posted January 6, 2007 Okay! Now ETS spend money on catching test takers but do not have money to spend on improving the test centers for TOEFL iBT. They just spend my money I paid for them in such a .. way. What is going on with this big organization? Do they try to make people more angry and frustrated? I am sorry to get out of the topic. I have to take the TOEFL iBT at CompUSA where test takers can hear an announcement from the store. I wish that ETS can be wiser by spending their money to make candidates love them more. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tseprep Posted January 6, 2007 Share Posted January 6, 2007 Okay! Now ETS spend money on catching test takers but do not have money to spend on improving the test centers for TOEFL iBT. They just spend my money I paid for them in such a .. way. What is going on with this big organization? Do they try to make people more angry and frustrated? I am sorry to get out of the topic. I have to take the TOEFL iBT at CompUSA where test takers can hear an announcement from the store. I wish that ETS can be wiser by spending their money to make candidates love them more. ;) More people take the test, better for them. They don't need the test takers to "love" ETS, just make the test impossible to pass and people will take it no matter what. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tino Posted January 6, 2007 Share Posted January 6, 2007 Regarding aliases: In the last week, ETS called at least 2 posters who posted in a GRE Subject Test forum, and at least one of the posters used an alias. For ETS, it doesn't take much to discover the identity behind your alias. An e-mail address, an unusual first name, or a link to a personal homepage could be enough for ETS to identify you since not many people take the subject exam. I am sorry, but I cannot believe this. ETS called someone? Just try to call ETS, you can never get through..... :-) Seriously, I cannot imagine ETS is stupid enough to waste money on detectives to do all the work necessary to do what was described. But who knows? Knok is right though.... why not spend some of that effort to improve what is a horrible test experience for many people (hey ETS, instead of looking for who I am, read the TOEFL forum..... you will be quite embarrassed!) Tino Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erin Posted January 6, 2007 Author Share Posted January 6, 2007 Tino, I believe these accounts of people receiving calls from ETS. I actually spoke to somebody on the telephone about this and have no reason to disbelieve what s/he told me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalmLogic Posted January 6, 2007 Share Posted January 6, 2007 Seriously, I cannot imagine ETS is stupid enough to waste money on detectives to do all the work necessary to do what was described. But who knows?I doubt they use detectives. It's pretty easy to find a possible match if a poster left a few clues in their posts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knok Posted January 6, 2007 Share Posted January 6, 2007 Come on! To get a real name from a poster, detectives may have to hack the system to get an IP address from the site in case that the owner of the site does not disclose the IP addresses of the users. It is illegal again to hack the computer system. Remember that all eletronic files or internet system is traceable. Usually, any forum discloses IP addresses. Therefore, it is easy to trace by using IP addresses to tell who you are and where you log on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erin Posted January 6, 2007 Author Share Posted January 6, 2007 First, for the record, I have never been asked by an organization about specific members. If I were asked, I'd talk to our lawyer for legal advice before I did anything. Second, not only is it illegal to hack into modern forum software, it's extremely difficult. I really don't think ETS or those it hires would do that. Remember what happened to HP after it admitted that they tapped their employees' phones? In the case I'm familiar with, the user left some obvious and easy clues in her/his posts. And even if someone doesn't leave clues, it's not that hard to get info on people, especially if they have unusal usernames, or if they use their email addresses as their usernames, which some people unfortunately do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalmLogic Posted January 7, 2007 Share Posted January 7, 2007 I am sorry, but I cannot believe this. ETS called someone? Just try to call ETS, you can never get through..... :-)Ha ha :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tino Posted January 8, 2007 Share Posted January 8, 2007 Hey Calmlogic got the joke! Good on ya'! Yeah Erin, I am sure the stories are true, and I believe you..... I was just making an ETS joke. Tino Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tseprep Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 Hey Calmlogic got the joke! Good on ya'! Yeah Erin, I am sure the stories are true, and I believe you..... I was just making an ETS joke. Tino Bottom line is, we don't want any members or the TM Forum get in trouble because of copyright materials. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LouisLin Posted January 22, 2007 Share Posted January 22, 2007 I know the people who will get zero on AWA when they plagiarize other people's essays in GRE or GMAT for a long time. Therefore, I anticipate that ETS will ban test takers of TOEFL form copying others' essays soon or later. If the person insists on copying others' writings, he will have a thought that he maybe get no mark of the tests of ETS.:doh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tino Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 I think all the links in this thread, including the signatures are to copy-right material: http://www.www.urch.com/forums/toefl-speaking/63344-download-toefl-ibt-real-tests-speaking-questions-03-2005-now.html FYI Tino Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erin Posted January 30, 2007 Author Share Posted January 30, 2007 I think all the links in this thread, including the signatures are to copy-right material: http://www.www.urch.com/forums/toefl-speaking/63344-download-toefl-ibt-real-tests-speaking-questions-03-2005-now.html FYI TinoTaken care of. You can use the 'report this post' button to get the message to me faster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tino Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 I did not know that. I will in the future. Tino Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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