Reading Comprehension

PT123 · S4 · P3 · Q21 Web Intellectual Property

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The World Wide Web, a network of electronically produced and interconnected (or “linked”) sites, called pages, that are accessible via personal computer, raises legal issues about the rights of owners of intellectual property, notably those who create documents for inclusion on Web pages.

Central Topic

Intellectual property rights vs. Openness on the Internet

Purpose

To present and weigh in on a debate

Main Point

Linking to sites that display someone else's intellectual property is not a form of copyright infringement, especially given that the owner of the site can restrict access if they want to.

Passage Map

P1 - Framing the debate P2 - Zooming in on the origins of the debate P3 - Author resolves the central question from P2 and offers final thoughts

Other Commentry

This is from 2007, but it sounds like people in the 90's trying to figure out what "the interwebs" are. Also, they give a nicely anachronistic metaphor of "an answering machine".

Okay, cultural anachronisms aside, in terms of solving the big picture of this passage, we have a few key moments. By the end of the 1st paragraph, we can tell there's a debate because we had consecutive sentences saying, "Some of these owners claim" and "Web users, however".

The 2nd paragraph's topic sentence even refers to it as a debate and gives great guidance about the function of that paragraph. The 2nd paragraph ends with a question. Any time you see an LSAT author ask a question, it is almost sure to be integral to the main point/purpose of the passage.

The 3rd paragraph starts with a clear functional foreshadowing, letting us know that the 3rd paragraph will answer this question. We get "therefore" and "hence" telegraphing her conclusions. The last four sentences put the author's overall stamp on the debate, and we learn that she sides more with the "Web users" who want keep the web as open as possible.

21.

The author's discussion of telephone answering machines serves primarily to

compare and contrast the legal
Out of Scope: telephone legal problems
The passage was never discussing legal problems relating to telephones.
3% picked this
provide an analogy to illustrate
Contradicted: each of two sides
The author provides this analogy to support one side of the debate, the side that thinks it's fine for B to create a link to A's document. It shows that A controls access to the document just as the person who records an answering machine greeting controls access to the greeting. "Therefore, even if B leads others to the document, it is A who actually controls access to it. Hence creating a link to a document is not the same as making or distributing a copy of that document."
26% picked this
show that the legal problems
Out of Scope: telephone legal problems
This answer implies that the telephone answering machine was brought up to connect the legal problem being discussed with internet pages to a preexisting legal problem produced by phones. But the passage was never discussing legal problems relating to telephones.
3% picked this
Correct
illustrate the basic principle the
Why this is right
This answer reinforces the surrounding claims. Right before the author brings up telephone answering machines, she says, "To answer this question, it must first be determined who controls distribution" = the author thinks that answering this question will help determine the outcome of the copyright debate. In the sentences after the telephone answering machine is discussed, we get, "Anyone who calls can listen to the message; that is its purpose. While B's link may facilitate access to A's document, the crucial point is that A, simply by placing that document on the Web, is thereby offering it for distribution." = The author thinks that the basic principle is that guiding someone to someone else's copyrighted property isn't infringement, as long as they still control access to it.
Skill tested: Local Purpose · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.
67% picked this
show that telephone use also
Out of Scope: telephone infringement
This is our 3rd trap answer that is trying to make students look within the detail about telephones rather than surrounding the detail about phones. The author was never suggesting there were any legal problems or potential copyright infringement when it comes to hearing people's answering machine messages.
1% picked this

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