Vacuum maker Dyson claims a spy was selling secrets to German rival

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9631492/Vacuum-maker-Dyson-claims-a-spy-was-selling-secrets-to-German-rival.html

High Profile Spam Scalp

The Australian Communications and Media Authority has accepted an enforceable undertaking from Tiger Airways Holdings Limited—and payment of a $110,000 infringement notice by its subsidiary Tiger Airways Australia Pty Limited—for failing to unsubscribe customers from marketing emails

http://acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_600082

Confessions of a university ghost writer

http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/confessions-of-a-university-ghost-writer-20121016-27pch.html

The Age obviously are in the business of selling ads and the more attention grabbing the story, the better, but this series of anecdotal snippets might have some positive influence if raises the profile of this type of cheating and leads to better counter-measures.

Conversely, it might raise awareness of such cheating for students who have not engaged in such misconduct previously and exacerbate the problem. :-(

Some useful suggestions for dealing with ghost writing from Edith Cowan University at

http://intranet.ecu.edu.au/learning/for-academic-staff/curriculum-2012-resources/academic-factsheets/ghost-writing

Some research on the area has been conducted, including

Centre for Academic Integrity , 2000) http://ethics.sandiego.edu/eac/Summer2000/Readings/Principles.html
James, R., McInnis, C., & Devlin, M. (2002). Minimising Plagiarism. In Assessing Learning in Australian Universities. Australia: Centre for the Study of Higher Education.
Franklyn-Stokes, A. & Newstead, S.E. (1995). Undergraduate cheating: who does what and why? Studies in Higher Education, 20(2), 159-172.
Park, C. (2003). In Other (People's) Words: Plagiarism by University Students - Literature and Lessons. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 28(5), 471-488.

http://www.tlc.murdoch.edu.au/project/acode/.

Deakin student suspended over copied work

http://www.theage.com.au/national/postgraduate-education/deakin-student-suspended-over-copied-work-20121004-272b9.html

Uni cheats buy work in cyberspace

It has long been my personally held view that these practices are widespread.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/tertiary-education/uni-cheats-buy-work-in-cyberspace-20121002-26xhj.html

To the extent that this exists, careful consideration to setting assessment tasks becomes increasingly important.

Anecdotally, I once heard from a uni graduate cab driver that he makes more money doing uni assignments than he does driving cabs

;-(