Taylor Vanderhelm is a JD candidate at the University of Alberta.
Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg in March 2011 from his position as German defence minister following revelations that he had plagiarized much of his 2006 doctoral thesis.
Referred to as the “Teflon Minister” for his ability to escape from controversy unscathed, Guttenberg’s resignation came as the result of ; much of which was driven by an regarding the originality of Guttenberg’s thesis, which had been of summa cum laude by the University of Bayreuth.
The allegations against Guttenberg first following a newspaper article by Andreas Fischer-Lescano, a law professor at the University of Bremen, which questioned the minister’s dissertation. From there, an anonymous online group banded together and began dissecting the material while posting their findings on online forums. As the movement grew, the group utilized an online wiki aptly named the . The wiki was created by a leader in online plagiarism-hunting, a doctoral candidate with a background in online gaming who goes under the pseudonym “.” Along with , an employee of , the two have been instrumental in organizing the online effort to analyze Guttenberg’s dissertation, which also paved the way for the establishment of the wiki. The VroniPlag wiki investigates plagiarism in other dissertations and has already been instrumental in the of German politician .
, the GuttenPlag effort found only approximately 5% of the pages of Guttenberg’s thesis to be free from plagiarism. The wiki implements a to illustrate its findings white pages indicate no plagiarism, black represents plagiarism, and red indicates plagiarism from multiple sources. While intentional plagiarism, Guttenberg soon after and the recently released a following its own investigation into the matter. Eyebrows were also raised by the fact that some of the plagiarism resulted from , which is not permitted for personal use.
Guttenberg, whose full name is Karl Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg, is still one of Germany’s most despite the scandal and is to still have a future in politics. Guttenberg’s popularity is bolstered by his aristocratic lineage and he, along with his wife, to represent a form of German royalty.
Guttenberg’s quest to obtain a doctorate was likely influenced by the in Germany. found that 58.5% of chief executives in Germany had a PhD vs only 1.3% in the US even though both countries have similar rates for overall population participation in PhD programs. As such, a PhD in Germany is instead of advancing academic research.
The proliferation of doctorates in Germany among non-academics makes it likely that many others will face scrutiny in light of the Guttenberg scandal, particularly in light of of the VroniPlag wiki. However, the lack of accountability on the part of anonymous online “plagiarism hunters” has made some uncomfortable. Volker Rieble, a plagiarism expert and law professor at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, of anonymously accusing someone of plagiarism since the accused doesn’t know who is attacking his credibility.
The internet has revolutionized and altered many of the traditional approaches to both life and business, online and offline, and plagiarism is no exception. With the success and attention of WikiLeaks, GuttenPlag, and VroniPlag, it appears that the era of anonymous vigilantes is upon us.