PrepTest 123 - Section 4 - Passage 3 - Question 17

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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. …

Intro topic · World Wide Web raises legal issues concerning inclusion of documents on web pages

Some of these owners of intellectual property claim that unless copyright law is strengthened, intellectual property on the Web will not be protected from copyright infringement. Web users, however, claim that if their ability to access information on Web pages is reduced, the Web cannot live up to its potential as an open, interactive medium of communication.

Debate · Intellectual property owners want stronger copyright law to protect stuff on Internet; web users want open medium of communication

The debate arises from the Web's ability to link one document to another. Links between sites are analogous to the inclusion in a printed text of references to other works, but with one difference: the cited document is instantly retrievable by a user who activates the link. …

Origin of debate · Linking documents on Internet

We can link documents on web pages, and clicking those links give immediate access to the document.

This immediate accessibility creates a problem, since current copyright laws give owners of intellectual property the right to sue a distributor of unauthorized copies of their material even if that distributor did not personally make the copies. If person A, the author of a document, puts the document on a Web page, and person B, the creator of another Web page, creates a link to A's document, is B committing copyright infringement?

Current copyright law · Gives right to sue distributor of unauthorized copies, even if distributor didn't make the copies himself

If B links to a document A puts on the Internet, is B violating copyright law?

To answer this question, it must first be determined who controls distribution of a document on the Web. When A places a document on a Web page, this is comparable to recording an outgoing message on one's telephone answering machine for others to hear. When B creates a link to A's document, this is akin to B's giving out A's telephone number, thereby allowing third parties to hear the outgoing message for themselves. Anyone who calls can listen to the message; that is its purpose. While B's link may indeed 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. 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. …

Argument against copyright violation · Person who links to document doesn't control access to the document and doesn't distribute it

The person who uploaded the document is the one offering it for distribution and controlling access to it. When B links to A's document, it's like B giving out A's phone number.

Moreover, techniques are already available by which A can restrict access to a document. For example, A may require a password to gain entry to A's Web page, just as a telephone owner can request an unlisted number and disclose it only to selected parties. Such a solution would compromise the openness of the Web somewhat, but not as much as the threat of copyright infringement litigation. …

Sufficient protections · Document uploader can already restrict access

Changing copyright law to benefit owners of intellectual property is thus ill-advised because it would impede the development of the Web as a public forum dedicated to the free exchange of ideas.

Author's perspective · We shouldn't change copyright law, because it would impede free exchange of ideas on Internet

Passage Style

Critique or debate

17.

With which one of the following claims about documents placed on Web pages would the author be most likely to agree?

Such documents cannot receive adequate protection unless current copyright laws are strengthened.

Anti-supported. The author believes the opposite.

Such documents cannot be protected from unauthorized distribution without significantly diminishing the potential of the Web to be a widely used form of communication.

Anti-supported. The author believes documents online can be protected adequately through measures such as setting a password.

45%

The nearly instantaneous access afforded by the Web makes it impossible in practice to limit access to such documents.

Anti-supported, because the author believes restrictions such as passwords can help protect documents on the Web.

Such documents can be protected from copyright infringement with the least damage to the public interest only by altering existing legal codes.

Anti-supported. The author believes we don’t need to change law to protect documents on the Web from copyright infringement.

Such documents cannot fully contribute to the Web's free exchange of ideas unless their authors allow them to be freely accessed by those who wish to do so.

Supported, because the author notes at the end that even restrictions such as placing a password would “compromise the openness of the Web somewhat.” So in order to not compromise the openness of the Web at all, even those restrictions can’t be used.

46%

PrepTest 123 - Section 4 - Passage 3 - Question 17

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