Illegal music downloading

Question

The recording industry is fighting a losing battle: it simply does not have the resources to prosecute all of the individuals who illegally download music from the Internet. Because the number of individuals who will be charged with a crime is so limited, the actions of the recording industry will have a minimal impact on the number of people who illegally download music.

The answer to which of the following questions would best help evaluate the accuracy of the conclusion above?
A. Will recording industry lawyers dedicate the majority of their time to prosecuting those who illegally download music?
B. Is a small minority of individuals responsible for the majority of illegal song downloads?
C. Do many individuals who illegally download songs share their music files with other Internet users?
D. Will new Internet security technology permit the recording industry to more quickly and easily identify individuals who illegally download music?
E. Will the threat of prosecution alter the behavior of those who illegally download music?

praxis · Answer

E!

The idea of making examples of a few notable people is to cause the unprosecuted majority to change their behaviours. Knowing if this is an effective tactic or not goes to the heart of the question.

B is an interesting alternate, but I believe that it is 'common knowledge' that many, many people participate. If only a few people participated, the issue would be far less important to the record companies.

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matterover · Answer

good qn.
E...
Let us say that (heaven forbid)perhaps few ppl were literally punished severely for illegal downloading.
Now such a news or perhaps statements from victims with wounds all over may minimize the downloading.
hence, even though the music companies cannot really prosecute everyone , but the fear of prosection may limit or downsize the illegal downloading.

lilu · Answer

OA is E

abhijeetsinghai · Answer

but what if threat of prosecution doesnot minimize the crime ? How then can we evaluate the conclusion ?

Also in B, if small minority, responsible for illegal copying, will be punished then majority of ppl will effected. In this way we can evaluate the conslusion. SO B seems better choice to me. Please throw some light.

S0laris · Answer

abhijeetsinghai wrote:but what if threat of prosecution doesnot minimize the crime ? How then can we evaluate the conclusion ?

Also in B, if small minority, responsible for illegal copying, will be punished then majority of ppl will effected. In this way we can evaluate the conslusion. SO B seems better choice to me. Please throw some light.

Punishment of small group which is responsible(probably for uploading&distrib) doesn't mean that others who download will stop doing so, new small group may continue illegal distribution. Moreover, main subject is downloaders, not distributors.

byokley · Answer

The reason it isn't B is because B states that, "Is a small minority of individuals responsible for the majority..." , while the stem states that, "it simply does not have the resources to prosecute all of the individuals"..key words here, "majority" in (b) and "all" in the stem.

The stem is worried about prosecuting ALL downloaders and (b) is talking about the MAJORITY of people. Even if the answer to (b) is yes, there would still be people out there downloading and the industry still wouldn't be able to stop ALL of them.

I chose B at first also.

Based on that, E is the best choice out of the 5.

ashley.com · Answer

I'm going with E

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