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Day 94 LSAT Practice Question

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.
According to the passage, present copyright laws

(A) allow completely unrestricted use of any document placed by its author on a Web page

(B) allow those who establish links to a document on a Web page to control its distribution to others

(C) prohibit anyone but the author of a document from making a profit from the document’s distribution

(D) allow the author of a document to sue anyone who distributes the document without permission

(E) should be altered to allow more complete freedom in the exchange of ideas
Click to reveal answer
A. This contradicts the passage. Lines 46–49 clearly state that website owners can restrict access using passwords.

B. This is an extreme and illogical interpretation. It implies that linking to a page gives the linker control over its distribution

C. Though it may seem tempting, this answer is incorrect both in the passage and in reality.

D. Correct. Lines 20–23 state this explicitly. The author argues that linking is not the same as copying and does not violate the original site’s rights.

E. This misrepresents the author's position. In lines 52–55, the author clearly states that we should not change copyright law in response to concerns about hyperlinking.
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