On 21/12/06, Fastfission fastfission@gmail.com wrote:
The odds of finding a copyvio are going to be quite low.
Did you try actually running the program? I guess not.
Let's have another demonstration. I just ran the program a few times. On the fifth try it got me this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilal-i-Jurat
which is copied wholesale from this copyrighted text:
http://faculty.winthrop.edu/haynese/medals/Pakistan/pakistan.htm
On the very next try, I got:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._J._Seymour
which was either copied from, or to (either way, without attribution) this website:
http://www.triste-le-roi.blogspot.com/ajs_main.html
The revision history indicates the person responsible was the maintainer of the website. Six or seven more program runs later, I got:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abd%C3%BClhak_H%C3%A2mid
which contains material copied from:
http://www.osmanli700.gen.tr/english/individuals/a19.html
My conclusion? First, the basic idea of the program is a sound one. Second, there are thousands more copyvios on the English Wikipedia than most people would ever imagine.
By the way, my program has a second use - you can also use it on a specific page if you're suspicious that it contains copyrighted text.