Online education provides needed opportunities for thousands of students who may not be able to get an education otherwise, students who appreciate the opportunity and work hard to prove it.

But not all online opportunities are just or well-intentioned, as is the case with diploma mills.

Rampant in America and Europe, online companies will offer college 'degrees' for the right price. With online education so popular, it's often hard to track these fakes.

But when somebody strikes back, the world of education can rejoice.

Hooray for everyone who works hard to uphold the integrity of higher education.

From Inside Higher Ed:
Diploma mill operators often manage to stay one step ahead of the law, changing their location or how they operate whenever state or other authorities zero in for a crackdown. And the laws and other tools available to regulators, higher education officials, students and others to stop degree mill operators are few and flimsy. So occasionally they turn to alternative tactics to fight the degree mills and other companies that help them do business.

Last month, the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers filed a federal trademark infringement lawsuit against the American Universities Admission Program. The program, which says it is based in Sarasota, Fla., operates among other things a service in which it evaluates the academic credentials of foreign students to help them gain admission to American universities. ("AUAP guarantees your admission into the best American universities possible with the best available conditions!" it boasts on its Web site).