PrepTest 102 - Section 1 - Passage 1 - Question 3

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Most office workers assume that the messages they send to each other via electronic mail are as private as a telephone call or a face-to-face meeting. ████ ██████████ ██ ██████ ████████ ██ ██ ███████ ██ ████ █████ ███ ██ ████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███████ █████████████ ██ █████████ ████████████ ██ ████ ████ █████ ██ █ █████████████ █████████████████ ███ ██ █████ █████ █████████ ██████████ █████ ██ █████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████████ ████ █████████████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ██ ███ ████ ███████████ █████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████

Intro to Issue · No clear rules on email privacy

Office workers wrongly assume that their emails are private.

Public Sector (Government) · Are government emails private?

If yes, then they can destroy them and deny public access.

Proposition · Yes, because there are paper versions that the public can access

Opposition · No, because the paper versions are incomplete; emails contain more information

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Private Sector (Business) · Are private sector employees's emails private?

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Example · Not private

Two employees talk shit over email about their boss. Boss finds out. Fires them. Judge rules in favor of company because the computers were company property hence boss had right to read anything on it.

Law · No privacy for "inside" interception

Law sometimes protects against third party eavesdropping but not when the third party is an "insider." So the police (outsider) can't eavesdrop on you but your boss (insider) can.

Exception · Reasonable expectation of privacy

If you have a reasonable expectation of privacy, then privacy could trump. But there is no absolute guarantee.

Solution · Encrypt messages

If you're an employee and want privacy, you may just have to encrypt your emails. But that's a huge pain in the butt.

Passage Style

Critique or debate

Problem-analysis

Which one of the following ████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ████████████ ██ ███ ████████

Question Type

Describe organization

Structure

Rely on your low-res summary to help with this question. P1 introduces the problem of privacy of electronic mail. P2 presents questions illustrating this problem in the context of the public sector. P3 presents questions illustrating this problem in the context of the private sector. P4 discusses a current solution and its limits, and also notes the inadequacy of another solution.

A problem is ███████████ ████████ ██ ████████ ████████ ████████████ ███ ████████ █ ████████ ████████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██ ██ ██████████████ ██ ███ █████████████

This is the best answer. A problem is introduced in P1 (the problem of how to handle privacy of electronic mail). Specific examples illustrating the problem are discussed in P2 and P3, which raise questions about how to handle electronic mail privacy in the government and private sector. P4 presents a possible solution (encryption) but also its shortcomings (makes electronic mail less convenient).

74%

A problem is ███████████ ████████ ██ ████████████ ██ ███ ████████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ███ █████ ████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ███████ ███ █████ ███ ███ ██ ██ ███ ██████ ████████████

After introducing the problem in P1, the next paragraphs don’t discuss two possible solutions. Rather, they give examples of the problem of electronic mail privacy. In addition, the author doesn’t argue for one solution over another.

A problem is ███████████ ████████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ██████████ █████████████ ████ ██████ █████ ███ ███████ ██████ █ ████████ ████████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ █████ ████ █ ███████ ███████

After introducing the problem in P1, the author doesn’t analyze the history that helped bring about the problem of electronic mail privacy. We don’t learn about mail before electronics, the development of electronic mail over time, or anything else about the historical circumstances.

13%

A problem is ███████████ ████████ ██ ███████████ ██ ███████ █████████ ████ ████ ██ ██ ████████ ██████ █ ████████ ███ ██ ██████ ███ ████████ ████████ ██ ████████ ███ ██████ ████

The easiest way to eliminate this is to recognize that the author doesn’t argue for one solution at the end. Although the author raises encryption as a potential solution, she doesn’t advocate for its use. Rather, she notes a significant drawback of it (less convenience).

A problem is ███████████ ████████ ██ ████████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██████████ ██ ████████ █████ ███ ████████ ███ ██████ ████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ███████ ███ █████ ███ ███ ██ ██ ████ ██████ ██ █████ █ ██████████ █████████

We might see P2 as describing “two contrasting approaches” to privacy of electronic mail in the context of the government. But the author doesn’t argue that the second approach (opponents of deletion of government email) is better than the first (supporters of allowing deletion).

PrepTest 102 - Section 1 - Passage 1 - Question 3

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