Latest News

Exam bosses target faster cheat takedowns

Authorities worried that the imminent exam season will see questions leaked online have appealed to ISPs for help arranging for them to be pulled from the web quicker.

The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), which is responsible for producing national curriculum assessments and the security of papers, said it was worried that normal procedures for removing illegally posted copyright material online were not fast enough.

"Previous instances of unlawful publication of QCA copyright material have demonstrated that the usual public routes for the notification of a copyright breach (which may be sufficient for dealing with post-exam publication of papers) may not react swiftly enough to limit the damage in an emergency pre-test publication," the QCA wrote.

To help speed up the process, the authority has asked hosting firms to supply it with an emergency hotline phone number, staffed by employees authorised to take down pages. It also asked for the hotline to be manned outside working hours.

The QCA's letter, signed on behalf of its director of corporate and legal affairs Carol Copland, said: "Maintaining secrecy and confidentiality in relation to national curriculum test questions, especially in the period prior to the test, is a matter of critical importance to QCA and a matter of public interest."

Click here to read more from theregister.co.uk