The correct answer is (C).
Copyright Law and the World Wide Web
Step 1: Read the Passage Strategically
Sample Highlighting
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. 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.
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. 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?
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. 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. 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.
Passage Notes
Paragraph 1
Web creates IP issues for creators of docs
IP owners: must tighten copyright law
Web users: tighter laws keep Web from being open/free
Paragraph 2
Reason for debate: ability to link
Links immed. access. → problem for laws
Does linking = infringement?
Paragraph 3
Who controls distrib on the Web?
Analogy: outgoing phone message
Owners = distributors
Linking ≠ distribution
Owner can restrict access
Ex: password
Owner restrictions preferable to tougher laws
Changing laws a bad idea
Discussion
Beware of familiar topics! Intellectual property on the Web, the Topic of this Law passage, is a well-known topic and nearly everyone has an opinion; remember to stay focused on what's presented in the passage, not your own opinions.
Paragraph 1 sets forth the conflict. Some owners of intellectual property rights feel stronger protection is required, but Web users fear this will limit the potential of the Web. The paragraph ends with a strong sense of the Scope (the conflict over strengthening copyright law). The author's Purpose doesn't emerge right away, but you can guess that she'll probably take a side.
Paragraph 2 explains the root of the issue: Web page links, and the problems created by the instant accessibility these links afford. The author also poses what she sees as the underlying question in the debate over increased protection—does linking to someone else's Web page constitute copyright infringement?
Paragraph 3 provides an analysis, by analogy, that demonstrates the author's view. According to the author, linking to a Web page is not copyright infringement. This statement reveals the author's Purpose: to analyze the need for increased copyright protection and advise against it. The Main Idea is therefore that changing copyright law to further protect owners would impede development of the Web and is thus ill-advised.
(C) Logic Reasoning (Parallel Reasoning)
Step 2: Identify the Question Type
This resembles a Parallel Reasoning question from the Logical Reasoning question because it asks you to find the answer choice providing a relationship "most analogous to" one put forth in the passage.
Step 3: Research the Relevant Text
"Relying on passwords to restrict access to a Web document" is a content clue leading you to the example near the end paragraph 3.
Step 4: Make a Prediction
The author sees tightening the laws as far more damaging to the potential of the Web than password protection is; password protection restricts access and creates some limitations on free exchange and development, but it's better than changing the law and creating even greater limitations. The correct answer will deal with the relationship between a legal solution and a non-legal, self-help solution to unrestricted access.
Step 5: Evaluate the Answer Choices
(C) is analogous to the passage and therefore correct. Prohibiting a sport is a restrictive legal remedy, and relying on participants to play safe is a self-help remedy that allows greater access while protecting those playing the game.
(A) only addresses the password issue (the self-help remedy), not the relationship to strengthening current copyright laws (the legal remedy). Allowing everyone use of a facility would have the opposite effect of tightening restrictions in copyright law.
(B) might be tempting at first because it describes two different plans of attack on restricting the same activity, but both courses of action offered by (B) are laws. In the passage's scenario, it's tougher laws versus protections created by the owners themselves.
(D) involves legislation and enforcement of a law, but offers nothing analogous to the self-devised passwords from the passage.
(E) is like (A) in that it only offers an analogue to the Web passwords. Allowing unrestricted access to a building is analogous to repealing copyright laws, not strengthening them.
