Self-study
The following passage was written in the mid-1990s.
P1
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Intro topic ·
Conflict between Internet users and copyright holders
Internet users want free access to info. But many Internet transmissions are copyrightable. Copyright holders want to protect their copyright.
P2
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Problem ·
Canadian copyright law hasn't kept up with digitalization
Digitalization makes it easy to make unlimited copies and transmit them all over the world. Current law only prohibits copying things into a material form. It's not settled whether digital copying involves a material form. So it's not a crime in Canada.
P3
Experts' solution ·
Add unauthorized digital copying to list of prohibited things
Limits of solution ·
Should copying a digital copy (as opposed to copying the original) be illegal? Can we even enforce this law, given that everyone around the world can easily access and copy digital material? Also, most transmissions will be exempt from the law because copyright law will exempt copying for private study and research.
Prediction ·
Conflict will continue
Internet users treat information as available for everyone. Publishers treat it as stuff owned by its creator.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Problem-analysis
28.
Which one of the following █████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███
a
Unauthorized digitalization of █ ███████████ ████ ██████ ██ ██████████ █ █████ ██████ ████ ██ ██ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ █████ ██ █████████
This is the best supported answer. We know that these experts want to add unauthorized digitalization to the list of activities that aren’t allowed under “current law.” We also know that “current copyright law allows generous exemptions for those engaged in private study or research.” So there’s evidence that these experts, who likely understand what current law already allows, would find an exemption for private study or research acceptable as applied to digitalization.
b
Unauthorized digitalization of █ ███████████ ████ ██████ ██ ██████████ █ █████ ████ ████ ██ ██ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ █████ ██ █████████
No support, because current law has an exemption for private study or research. There’s no suggestion that the experts don’t think this exemption should apply to digitalization if digitalization is prohibited by copyright law.
c
Making a copy ██ █ ███████████ ████ ████ ██ ████████████ ██████████████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ███ ██ ██████████ █ ██████
Although the author notes that one question we’ll have to answer is whether copies of an unauthorized digitalization should be illegal, we have no evidence about how the experts would answer this question. They might think both the unauthorized digitalization and copies of that digitalization should be a crime.
d
Making a copy ██ █ ███████████ ████ ████ ██ ████████████ ██████████████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ██ █████████ ███ ███ ██ ████████ ██ ██████ ███ ████████ ███████████████
Although the author notes that one question we’ll have to answer is whether copies of an unauthorized digitalization should be illegal, we have no evidence about how the experts would answer this question or about the comparative punishment the experts think is appropriate.
e
Making a copy ██ █ ███████████ ████ ████ ██ ████████████ ██████████████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ████████ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ██████ ███ ████████ ███████████████
Although the author notes that one question we’ll have to answer is whether copies of an unauthorized digitalization should be illegal, we have no evidence about how the experts would answer this question or about the comparative punishment the experts think is appropriate.