One professor has started to fight back. Indiana University assistant professor of sociology Mathieu Deflem learned that Versity had his lecture notes in early September, so he immediately wrote and asked them to remove the notes from their site.

"Distributing information is all good and well," Deflem says. "But this is offensive to the relationship between professors and students.

"Teaching is a very specific environment with very specific characteristics, and I as a teacher want to have some control over that environment. Why else would I be a teacher?"

Versity replied with an offer to collaborate on a Web site, Deflem says, but he refused. "They first barge in telling me how to do my job. Do you know what it took me to get this job? I didn't get this job because I'm a pretty boy. You expect their teachers to do their jobs, and not rely on companies run by university drop-outs."

Deflem has since begun an Internet campaign against note-buying services. He maintains a Web site devoted to the issue and has been corresponding with administrators about the problem. Recently, he said, the University of California at Los Angeles has had some success in stopping Versity from buying notes.

Berman says much of the uproar is due to the site's novelty. "Students have for years shared notes, and the universities have had no problems that. Why can't can't they share them through the Web?" Berman asked.

"This is simply applying the power of the Internet to allow people to do that in an easier way. The Web disrupts many of the things we're used to, but if you believe it's acceptable to share notes, then Versity should be in the clear," Berman says. "Whenever something new like this comes along, people get disrupted. The Web is disrupting."

For now, the professors are complaining, and the Web site is growing. Berman says the site will soon feature lists of frequently asked questions for various subjects, plus online study groups.