Plagiarism, Fabrication and Falsification

The ignorance of the existing laws is not considered as an excuse to the unethical practice of
many producers in creating inaccurate information. As a media and information literate individual, you
must be wary of the unholy trinity of information deceit: plagiarism, fabrication, and falsification.

Plagiarism is the act of stealing a person’s work and presenting them as your own. According to
Lapeňa (2010), plagiarism comes from the Latin word plagiarus which means “kidnapper,” thus used
nowadays in the sense of “intellectual theft.”

Fabrication, on the other hand, is the production of data or results and reporting them as true
or and correct, or simply an invention of data (Zietma, 2013).

Lastly, falsification is the manipulation of research materials, or the modification and/or

omission of data in information to meet a certain result (Zietma, 2013; Merton [as cited by Bornmann,
2013]).

Fabrication and falsification, when created to harm another person or entity, can be subject to
legal sanctions. An issuance of a false statement about another person or entity, which causes that
person/ entity to suffer harm is called defamation, and is categorized into two types; slander and libel.
Slander refers to oral defamatory statements, while libel involves printed defamation.

Article 353 of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines, as amended by Republic Act No. 3815,
defines libel as “a public and malicious imputation of a crime, or a vice or a defect, real or imaginary, or
any act, omission, condition, status, or circumstances tending to cause the dishonour, discredit or
contempt of a natural or judicial person, or to blacken the memory of one who is dead.” Any person
who is proven guilty of defamatory act shall pay the fine of Php 200 to Php 6 000, in addition to the civil
action which may be brought by the offended.

Have I ever plagiarized, fabricated, or falsified information?

What can I do to put an end to its practice?

NETIQUETTE: ETHICS OF THE INTERNET

Netiquette is a body of conventions and manners in using the internet as a tool for data and
communication exchange (Tedre, Kampurri and Kommers, 2006). The word “netiquette” comes from
the words “network” (internet) and “etiquette” (Chilles, 2013), thereby making it the social guidelines
on the internet.

Virginia Shea (1994), in her book Netiquette (as mentioned by Richard Craig, 2005), said that
there are core rules and general guidelines in interacting in cyberspace. These are the following.

1. Remember the human.

2. Adhere to the same standards of behavior online that you follow in real life.
3. Know where you are in cyberspace.
4. Respect other people’s time and bandwidth.
5. Make yourself look good online.
6. Share expert knowledge.
7. Help keep flame wars under control.
8. Respect other people’s privacy.
9. Do not abuse your power

Societal Issues in the Information Age

According to Keniston and Kumar (2003), the last decades brought the world in a
technologically-driven revolution, which resulted to the Information Age.

This technological revolution inspired hopes that it might bring or soon will bring transparency,
market rationalization, and universal access to information, establishment of international communities,
and the improvement of human life –hopes that cause or will cause both positive and adverse issues in
societies, not just in the Philippines, but in the world.

What are these issues? What can you do to stop or develop the fruits of these issues?

Digital Divide

According to Internet Live Stat (2015), there are over 3.1 billion people all over the world who
have access to the internet, and are adept at using digital devices. These people use digital products and
services for diverse reasons – social networking, entertainment, economic development,
entrepreneurship, education and health care, among others. In this case, over 3.1 billion people have
already utilized new age technology to improve their lives.

But despite the huge number of people benefitting from the technological revolution, there is
still roughly 4.2 billion people who do not enjoy benefits of digital connectivity. West (2015) stated a
number or reasons; some of which are poverty, infrastructure, digital literacy, and policy and operations
barriers. The gap between digitally adept population and the non-technological ones caused the world
to undergo digital divide.

Digital divide may also pertain to the gap between the younger and older generations in terms
of technological use. People born in the middle to late 1980s and 90s belong to the “Internet
Generation” or sometimes also called “Digital Generation,” “Net Generation,” or the “Millennials.” They
grew up in the presence of arising technology unlike the previous generation. Because of this, the
younger generation became more internet- and technology-savvy than their parents, teachers, and
older members of the society (Herring, 2008).

Keniston and Kumar (2003) added that digital divide, if viewed analytically, is a three-set
phenomenon – with an emerging fourth in many nations. The first divide exists between every nation:
industrialized and developing, the educated and the illiterate. The second divide is linguistic and
cultural. The third one is the growing gap between the rich and the poor nations. The fourth is the views
in prosperity whether it spreads to the rest of society or whether it creates separate, cosmopolitan, and
knowledge-based enclave.