Reading comp PrepTest 123 · Section 4 · Question 21
Passage
The World Wide Web, a network of electronically produced and interconnected (or "linked") sites, called pages, that are accessible via
Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage SummaryTopic: Legal Studies
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 3.1 (Lines 28-44)
Paragraph 3.1 (Lines 44-55)
Main Point:
Putting a link to a document on another website shouldn't be considered copyright infringement because the copyright owner, by posting it, still controls it and has made it available for distribution.
Key Lines:
Lines 6-9 - One side of a debate
Lines 9-13 - The other side
Lines 23-27 - The central question is posed
Lines 28-30 - A requirement to answer the question
Line 31- An extended analogy is introduced
Lines 40-44 - The Author's answer
Lines 44-46 - Another consideration/support, and an example
Lines 52-55 - Author's opinion on related subject
Meta-Structure:
Question/Answer - The passage focuses on a question posed in Paragraph 2—does linking to a document constitute copyright infringement? Through the use of an extended analogy between phone messages/numbers and the internet (Lines 31-37), the Author concludes that no, it isn't (Lines 40-44). When a passage has a central Question/Answer structure, the Author's answer to the question is the main point of the passage, as we highlighted in our main point above.
Analogy - The Author uses an extended analogy in Lines 31-37 to relate posting a link to a document on another website to giving out someone's phone number. This is all in service of answering the question that's central to the passage.
Add-On - This passage includes an "Add-On" at the end—everything after the "Moreover" in Line 44. This segment of the passage adds to the Author's argument but it doesn't build from the central evidence, instead going off in a bit of a different direction. It reflects her opinion, but not necessarily her main point.
Last Thoughts:
We split up Paragraph 3 for two reasons. First, there are two distinct ideas in there, with the first highlighting an analogy that answers the Author's question, and the second with some additional points she makes relevant to the issue but not the central question. Second, that second half is introduced with "Moreover" (Line 44), which is an interesting structural word. It serves the same purpose as "Besides," in that it's introducing a side consideration that, while relevant, isn't directly speaking to the main point, or, at most, is support for that main point. So while that section of the passage could be asked about, it doesn't have to be reflected in the main point.
Paragraph 1
- Paragraph note
- New technology leads to debate
- Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
- New tech - Internet, linked sites on computers
- IP owners - Without stronger copyright laws, the internet will have a lot of infringement
- Users - Reducing access makes internet less valuable
Paragraph 2
- Paragraph note
- New question/consideration from new tech; current law
- Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
- Central issue - website can link to document on another
- Traditional IP protection - Owner can sue distributor for unauthorized copies
- Question - Does linking to a document count as copyright infringement?
Paragraph 3.1 (Lines 28-44)
- Paragraph note
- Analogy leads to answer
- Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
- Analogy - Like recording an outgoing message on phone/giving out number
- Author's Answer - No, it doesn't
Paragraph 3.1 (Lines 44-55)
- Paragraph note
- "Moreover"; Technique available to protect doc you put online; recommendation
- Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
- Example - Password (somewhat limit open access, but not as much as copyright law changes)
- Author - Copyright law shouldn't be changed, as it would hurt the internet
Main Point:
Putting a link to a document on another website shouldn't be considered copyright infringement because the copyright owner, by posting it, still controls it and has made it available for distribution.
Key Lines:
Lines 6-9 - One side of a debate
Lines 9-13 - The other side
Lines 23-27 - The central question is posed
Lines 28-30 - A requirement to answer the question
Line 31- An extended analogy is introduced
Lines 40-44 - The Author's answer
Lines 44-46 - Another consideration/support, and an example
Lines 52-55 - Author's opinion on related subject
Meta-Structure:
Question/Answer - The passage focuses on a question posed in Paragraph 2—does linking to a document constitute copyright infringement? Through the use of an extended analogy between phone messages/numbers and the internet (Lines 31-37), the Author concludes that no, it isn't (Lines 40-44). When a passage has a central Question/Answer structure, the Author's answer to the question is the main point of the passage, as we highlighted in our main point above.
Analogy - The Author uses an extended analogy in Lines 31-37 to relate posting a link to a document on another website to giving out someone's phone number. This is all in service of answering the question that's central to the passage.
Add-On - This passage includes an "Add-On" at the end—everything after the "Moreover" in Line 44. This segment of the passage adds to the Author's argument but it doesn't build from the central evidence, instead going off in a bit of a different direction. It reflects her opinion, but not necessarily her main point.
Last Thoughts:
We split up Paragraph 3 for two reasons. First, there are two distinct ideas in there, with the first highlighting an analogy that answers the Author's question, and the second with some additional points she makes relevant to the issue but not the central question. Second, that second half is introduced with "Moreover" (Line 44), which is an interesting structural word. It serves the same purpose as "Besides," in that it's introducing a side consideration that, while relevant, isn't directly speaking to the main point, or, at most, is support for that main point. So while that section of the passage could be asked about, it doesn't have to be reflected in the main point.
Question prompt
The author's discussion of
Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right
Credited answer: D
The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.
Question Type
Legal
Strategy Overview
Recall the purpose of the section including this analogy, and then dive in to see the specific purpose in its immediate context
Answer Anticipation
The analogy of the answering machine showed up in Lines 30—37. This is in the first half of Paragraph 3, where the Author's answer to the key question shows up. So this analogy must be meant to support the answer — that linking to a document isn't copyright infringement.
The lead—in to the analogy is a statement that answering the question requires determining "who controls distribution of a document on the Web" (Lines 28—30). So the analogy must help to answer this subsidiary question.
And it does so. The Author uses the telephone analogy to highlight a similar situation where a certain determination has been made about whether copyright infringement has occurred. The answering machine message recorder is the IP owner and distributor, the person listening to the message is like the Web user clicking a link, and the person creating the link is like someone giving out the phone number. Just as that person wouldn't be seen as infringing the copyright in the phone message, someone creating that link isn't violating a copyright.
So the analogy here is meant to help answer the sub—question of who controls distribution of a document online by highlighting a similar situation where that question has been answered. Let's find an answer reflecting that purpose.
Answer choices
-
Acompare and contrast the Remaining source text redacted.
Why choice A is not credited
Incorrect. (Line 31) An analogy highlights similarities, not differences, so it's not meant to "contrast" anything. -
Bprovide an analogy to Remaining source text redacted.
Why choice B is not credited
Incorrect. So tempting! It even uses the magic word — "analogy." However, while the phone situation is used as an analogy, it's not meant to illustrate the positions by each side of the debate here. Rather, it's used to bolster the Author's case that linking to a document isn't copyright infringement, which is a view not held by many IP owners. -
Cshow that the legal Remaining source text redacted.
Why choice C is not credited
Incorrect. This is a tempting answer, as the Author is highlighting an earlier situation involving another communication technology that presents a similar issue to the Web. However, this answer states that the purpose of this discussion is to highlight that the problems aren't new, whereas the Author uses the discussion to prove a point. This answer makes it seem more information than argumentative, so it's incorrect. -
Dillustrate the basic principle Remaining source text redacted.
Why choice D matches the stem
Correct. Analogies are tied together by the underlying relationships between their elements — and another word for an underlying relationship is a principle. In bringing up the telephone situation, the Author is appealing to a principle that decided there was no infringement in that case. From there, she argues that, since the Web case is similar, the same principle applies and the same determination should be reached. This answer is therefore correct. -
Eshow that telephone use Remaining source text redacted.
Why choice E is not credited
Incorrect. The Author brings up telephone outgoing messages to highlight a situation where copyright infringement isn't happening because the person who recorded the message controls distribution of the recording. This is to argue that posting to the Web is an analogous situation that should have the same conclusion reached. Therefore, the purpose of this analogy isn't to show that telephone use raises copyright concerns — it's to show that it doesn't and thus neither should the situation on the Web.
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