NEW YORK, Nov. 20, 2008
Web Tests Kids' Desire To Cheat
CBS Evening News: More Than 3,000 How-To-Cheat In School Videos On YouTube
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Play CBS Video Video The Digital Generation There's a new generation of kids who are tech savvy and able to reach a wide Web audience with no one to monitor their activities. Daniel Sieberg reports on the possible consequences down the road.
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She hopes her "How to Cheat" video makes her an online star, but this student refuses to use her real name in association with it. (CBS)
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Interactive GenTech In Depth An interactive look at the wiring of teen America: the trends, talk, realities and more.
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Interactive Education In America Backpack ready? Learn more about education in America through fun facts, national statistics and unusual schools.
"This method of cheating, it will work," she said in her online video.
She told CBS News science and technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg, "Um, like, I didn't know it was going to be kind of controversial."
There are more than 3,000 "How to Cheat" videos on YouTube alone. Some are silly, using elastic bands. Others get creative with clothing. The most sophisticated turn soda bottle wrappers into detailed cheat sheets.
"It's a 21st-Century form of showing your friends how cool you are," said John Palfrey, the author of a book about the digital generation.
There are worse videos online - showing drug use and fighting - but these cheat videos encourage bad behavior in otherwise good kids.
"I don't think I have any regrets. It's just, like, I posted that video for fun, you know, I was really bored one day and wanted to post it out of amusement," Kiki said.
A ninth-grader from New Jersey, who we'll call "James," posted a series of cheat videos. He makes no apologies - but he doesn't want to be identified, either.
"Do you worry that anything you're doing is wrong or going to have some consequences later?" Sieberg asked him.
"I think it might, if people figure out this is me," he said. "But if they don't, I think it's fine."
Policing YouTube is virtually impossible. Thirteen hours of video are posted every minute. Guidelines ask for "no bad stuff," and if there are enough complaints, the video could be taken down.Read more about this story on Tech Talk blog.
But YouTube itself doesn't screen for immoral or illegal behaviors, making it easy for adolescents to indulge their worst impulses.
"Young people are going to wake up some years later and say, 'gosh, I wish when someone Googled my name they didn't see that.' And it will be sort of like a tattoo on their arm, something they want to remove but will be very, very hard to get rid of," Palfrey said.
And is James afraid of getting caught?
"No. I don't think that's ever going to happen," he said.
James did have second-thoughts and took his videos down - perhaps worried about consequences down the road.
"I actually want to become a lawyer," he said.
He may want to brush up on his ethics first.
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Add a Comment See all 13 Comments
- Doing well in school is mostly about gaming the system and not about learning or intelligence.
- Reply to this comment
- Liberal children cheat. They do all the bad things. Goofus is the role model of liberal children.
Posted by gop_will_Win at 08:50 AM : Nov 21, 2008
Gallant didn''t get laid till he was forty.
oh and you should change your name too, ya know, cuz they didn''t. - Reply to this comment
- It''''s human nature to cheat. Duh! There''''s a guy moving into Pennsylvania Ave. that''''s a cheat "&" and liar. Here''''s another "DUH", America.
Posted by ThatGuy56
Right address, wrong direction - the cheat and liar is on his way out. - Reply to this comment
- Liberal children cheat. They do all the bad things. Goofus is the role model of liberal children.
- Reply to this comment
- "No. I don''t think that''s ever going to happen," he said.
James did have second-thoughts and took his videos down - perhaps worried about consequences down the road.
"I actually want to become a lawyer," he said.
He may want to brush up on his ethics first.
No James you''ve already pass the test to be a lawyer or congressmen, a lack of ethics and cheating are good things for America''s legal system or government. Your ready serve up your fellow citizen to any and all wolves. Congrads, your a true America. Swindle away! - Reply to this comment
- autumn987, glad to see you are still on line with your enlightening posts, I was afraid the doctor finally got the dosage correct
- Reply to this comment
- ....Future Haliburton executives....
- Reply to this comment
- The most successful cheaters are the ones who get contracted to catch other cheaters.
i.e. Most IT security experts, the FBI, the FCC, the IEEE 802.10 Committee. - Reply to this comment
- It''s human nature to cheat. Duh! There''s a guy moving into Pennsylvania Ave. that''s a cheat "&" and liar. Here''s another "DUH", America.
Posted by ThatGuy56 at 04:20 AM : Nov 21, 2008
I think you got that backwards. The "cheat & liar" is moving OUT of Pennsylvania Ave. - Reply to this comment
- She wants to remain anonymous, but allows her face to be seen in the picture...what an idiot! Makes one wonder if her techniques on the video are equally shoddy.
- Reply to this comment
- yeah, kiki is a jerk. she just did it for fun because she was bored. she should be expelled. she''ll wind up being a "working at mcdonalds, pregnant, throw away, trailer trash bride."
- Reply to this comment
- I know how his father got him into Yale,but what cheat method did his mother Barbara use to get him the degree?
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- If I were the dean of her college, she would be expelled for her cheating. Hopefully the dean of her college saw the news broadcast and will expell her in the morning. She is a low-life scum-bucket and is not even good looking. Actualy she looks like a cheap hooker. Enough said
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