Formal Complaint Letter to IEEE: Plagiarism in IoT Newsletter (September 14, 2025)

 

© 2025 Charles Sun. All rights reserved.

This is the full text of the formal complaint letter I submitted to IEEE on September 14, 2025. The letter set a deadline of September 19, 2025 for corrective action regarding documented plagiarism in the IEEE IoT Newsletter article. That deadline has now passed without response. To ensure transparency, I am publishing the letter here in full as part of the public record.

Date: September 14, 2025

Dear IEEE IoT Newsletter Editorial Board / Editor‑in‑Chief, IEEE Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Office, and IEEE Member Conduct/Ethics Committee (EMCC):

I am formally reporting clear, major plagiarism in the IEEE IoT Newsletter article “IPv6 and Internet of Things: Prospects for Latin America” (July 17, 2017). My detailed, line‑by‑line forensic review confirms that substantial portions are directly taken from my article, “No IoT Without IPv6” (ComputerWorld, May 19, 2016).

The attached, fully documented analysis identifies seven discrete, verifiable cases of plagiarism, summarized below:

#	Plagiarized Content (IEEE)	IEEE Location (Para)	Original Content (ComputerWorld)	CW Location (Para)	Type / Severity
1	“There is no IoT without IPv6.”	¶ 4 & Conclusions	“No IoT Without IPv6” (title); “…the IoT won’t be happening without IPv6.”	Title; Final ¶	Major — Verbatim slogan / core thesis
2	“IT experts predict that there will be over 50 billion ‘connected devices’ by 2020.”	¶ 2	“projected … more than 50 billion devices… by 2020.”	Reason 1, ¶ 2	Moderate — Paraphrased data / framing
3	“…IPv4 offers just under, 4.3 billion unique IP addresses. …IoT clearly needs more IP addresses…”	¶ 2	“IPv4 has only 4.3 billion possible IP addresses.”	Reason 1, ¶ 3	Moderate — Paraphrase, data & structure
4	“IPv6 extends… 128 bits (340 undecillion or 340 trillion trillion trillion)… for the next decades.”	¶ 3	“IPv6… 340 undecillion (that is 340 trillion trillion trillion) addresses…”	Reason 1, ¶ 6	Moderate — Numeric / phrase copying
5	“IPv6 is about vision, leadership, innovation and competitive edge.”	¶ 4	“Adopting IPv6 is a matter of leadership, vision and competitive edge.”	Reason 5, opening line	Major — Verbatim, central argument
6	Framing of Vint Cerf as an authority on IPv4 as “experimental” / IPv6 “production”	¶ 1 (lead); thematic	“…Vint Cerf… IPv4 is only ‘the experimental version…’ IPv6… actual production version…”	Reason 4	Major — Analytical / research misappropriation; concealed citation
7	“the IoT market will generate between $6 to 10 trillion a year by 2025”	¶ 6	“…the IoT represents at least a $6 trillion opportunity.”	Reason 5, final ¶	Major — Direct paraphrase; concealed source / data theft

All instances are supported with direct URL links, precise contextual quotations, and severity designations based on IEEE’s Plagiarism Policy, COPE Guidelines, and the Harvard Guide. This is not incidental overlap or public‑domain reuse — these are central technical, business, and interpretive claims, unique to my work, presented without attribution.

Required Actions — to be completed or formally scheduled no later than Friday, September 19, 2025:

1. Immediate retraction of the offending IEEE IoT Newsletter article.
2. Formal public acknowledgment of the plagiarism and an apology.
3. Publication of a corrective notice describing the process undertaken and the standards now in place to prevent recurrence.
4. Notification to all venues where this article or its content has been used, citing the retraction and reason.

If I do not receive confirmation of these actions or a binding resolution timeline by the stated deadline, I will proceed to take further steps to protect my work and the public record, supported by the complete forensic evidence package.

Please confirm receipt of this complaint immediately and provide the name and contact information of the individual responsible for the investigation. I am available to supply further documentation as needed.

Respectfully,

Charles Sun

Attachment:

Forensic Analysis Report - Plagiarism in IEEE IoT Newsletter Article 20250914

Citation Formats for This Article:

APA (7th Edition) Citation
Charles Sun. (2025, September 14). Formal complaint letter to IEEE: Plagiarism in IoT Newsletter. IPv6 Czar's Blog. https://ipv6czar.blogspot.com/2025/09/formal-complaint-letter-to-ieee.html

MLA (9th Edition) Citation
Sun, Charles. "Formal Complaint Letter to IEEE: Plagiarism in IoT Newsletter." IPv6 Czar's Blog, 14 Sept. 2025, https://ipv6czar.blogspot.com/2025/09/formal-complaint-letter-to-ieee.html.

Chicago (17th Edition) Citation
Charles Sun. "Formal Complaint Letter to IEEE: Plagiarism in IoT Newsletter." IPv6 Czar’s Blog. September 14, 2025. https://ipv6czar.blogspot.com/2025/09/formal-complaint-letter-to-ieee.html

Disclaimer: The views presented are only personal opinions and do not necessarily represent those of the U.S. Government.

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© 2025 Charles Sun. All rights reserved.