[tokenadult]

When I was in high school, in an English class unit on journalism, I learned how the United Press caught a competing news organization (Hearst, as I recall) faking stories about the eastern front in World War I. The United Press reporters inserted details about a Russian government official named Nelotsky in their news stories, and watched the statements about Nelotsky get copied into reports from the competing wire service. There was just one problem with Hearst's journalistic procedure: there wasn't any such Russian official. The name "Nelotsky" came from reversing the spelling of the English word "stolen" and adding a Russian-looking "ky" ending.

http://www.law.uchicago.edu/files/files/246-dgb-uneasy-legac...

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30D16FF3B5B1...

Similarly, in the 1990s I noticed that a popular page on my personal website was being copied diligently by a college student for his personal website. I inserted a fake entry, based on the Greek word for "steal." I also put a link at that entry leading to the copyright notice page on my personal website, which has a distinctive filename unique to my site. When the student copied the page again, I was able to show the site administrator of his site that the student had plainly violated the site user agreement at that academic institution, which specifically required students not to plagiarize for their postings on the university site.

I didn't do a lot of public outing of that student--but you had better believe I still remember who he was. Teachers do well to teach students early and often to use their own noggins and to do their own writing, giving proper credit with correct citation form to sources they rely on. That's a better education than just letting students copy whatever they happen to see, without any analysis or thought at all.

[heyitsnick]

That's a great story about Nelotsky, I hadn't heard that before.

For those interested, these fake entries to catch copyright infringement are commonly referred to as "Mountweazels". They are common in maps (fake towns, roads) and dictionaries (fake words and definitions). You can read more on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fictitious_entry

[kstop]

Also catching on in celebrity baby photos: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/the-hot-button/kim-karda...

[hello_newman]

Unbelievable. I have new found respect for Kim Kardashian. That was incredibly smart.

[contacternst]

You mean you didn't already have respect for Kim's contribution to protecting privacy on the internet?!

[jere]

Like heyitsnick said, that sounds like trap streets and Esquivalience. The thing I always wondered is if these fictitious items weren't actually hurtful to the reputation of the company creating them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap_street

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esquivalience