More than the files are corrupted

$3.95 may buy you time at Corrupted-Files.com, but the costs don't end there

What could be more frustrating than a corrupted Word file? How about not having one handy when your term paper or work project is due ... but alarmingly incomplete?

If you're not getting the connection off hand, check out Corrupted-Files.com, a Web site dedicated to the dubious notion that anything worth achieving in life is worth cheating to accomplish. For a mere $3.95 credit-card payment (careful there, kids) the anonymous proprietor promises deadline deadbeats a thoroughly corrupted Word, Excel or Powerpoint file with the following instructions:

Step 1: After purchasing a file, rename the file e.g. Mike_Final-Paper.

Step 2: Email the file to your professor along with your "here's my assignment" email.

Step 3: It will take your professor several hours if not days to notice your file is "unfortunately" corrupted. Use the time this website just bought you wisely and finish that paper!!!

While not exactly the Oprah seal of approval, Corrupted-Files.com was recently featured on the New York Times Web site, making its homepage plea to "Keep this site a secret" more meaningless than cheeky. Moreover, the site is already on the radar of academia as yet another easy way out for the less-than-diligent crowd.

I sent the operator of Corrupted-Files.com a number of questions both via e-mail and the site's Web form.

I didn't get a reply ... not even a corrupted one.

However, the Web site Inside Higher Ed did manage to get this response from the fellow:

Inside Higher Ed e-mailed the site's proprietor via e-mail and learned the following (obviously not verifiable, and the site owner did not give a name, nor is one listed on the site's registration). The site was created in December "as a goof" by its owner.

"I didn't think anyone would actually pay for an excuse but lo and behold.... It was never meant to sell one file but I get about 3-4 downloads a day (over 10 a day during finals) and don't advertise the site," the owner wrote back. "I used the corrupted file excuse back in my college days (I'm 25) as I started my first business at 19 so I didn't have much time to do my schoolwork. When I couldn't get an extension, I sent my professors a corrupted file to buy me time. I know this was not the most ethical thing but as a young entrepreneur, I did not have much of a choice as I valued my employees well above my academics."

Ah, excuses.

The good news here, if there is any, is that the teaching profession is getting hip to tricks such as corrupted files, at least according to an undergrad at my alma mater who left this comment on the Times article: "I am a student at Northeastern and now most of my teachers insist on handing in a hard copy, so we can't 'blame' the Internet."

(Update: Those of you who believe buying corrupted files is a dumb idea -- and it's clear many of you do -- may enjoy this slideshow: "The 10 Dumbest Tech Products So Far.")

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• corrupted files
• Corrupted-Files.com
• data corruption
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• Word