Online vs Offline Plagiarism

I had an interesting conversation with a teacher this afternoon. We were in a workshop about students submitting work electronically, and we got to talking about students copying homework assignments from each other. She was (rightfully) concerned that electronic assignments make it easier for students to just make copies and send their work to 10 other students. I agreed that electronic copying is easier, but that students have always found ways to copy, even without computers or smartphones. Her response to this was intriguing and I'm not sure what I think about it. She said that with a written assignment, for a student to copy someone else's work, they at least had to write out the words, and there was at least some amount of thought that had to pass through their brains in the process. In contrast, electronic copying doesn't require any work, just pushing a button.

I'm really not sure what I think about this argument. On the one hand, it is certainly true that copying electronic files is easier than copying a page of written work. On the other hand, I've seen enough students copying work furiously to be highly skeptical of the amount of mental processing that was going on. (And I've seen the sometimes hilarious results of students copying quickly without any comprehension at all.)

The strategies for preventing student-to-student plagiarism of electronic work are similar to those for preventing plagiarism of handwritten work. I'm interested, though, in hearing your thoughts about online vs offline plagiarism. In the comments, please leave your thoughts about whether you think:

• Online copying is equally as bad as offline copying;
• Online copying is worse because for handwritten work, students at least are writing;
• Online copying is not as bad as copying by hand.

PS. Your work must be your own!