When Soldiers Cheat
In "Army Knew of Cheating on Tests for Eight Years," Bryan Bender and Kevin Baron of the Boston Globe continue their groundbreaking investigation into soldiers' cheating on the online exams that award points toward promotions. The cheating is rampant -- hundreds of thousands of completed exams have been downloaded by soldiers from Web sites such as ShamSchool.com -- but the Army says it can't identify the cheaters. Not so, the Globe found:
But the Globe, using relatively simple computer tracking skills, was able to locate the identities of dozens of soldiers who frequent ShamSchool and other websites.
For example, the "document properties" of exam copies found on ShamSchool identify the soldiers who last saved them on their computer….
On the Yahoo message boards many users have provided their e-mail addresses and the bases where they are stationed, including one woman who identified herself as the spouse of a soldier who was completing the tests on his behalf.
The Globe was also able to identify at least half a dozen of the most active website "moderators" who guide soldiers to the cheating materials. They include at least four active-duty sergeants based around the world, an Army contractor, and a retired soldier.
In addition, it is clear that some soldiers have used government computers to cheat, which is a separate crime under the Uniformed Code of Military Justice, and makes the downloads of pirated exams even more easily traceable by investigators.
But there is still no official Armywide investigation, according to the training command.