Examen De Inglés Selectividad Bon's Tips ( s3

Examen de inglés Selectividad Bon's tips (www.bontips.com)

MUSIC, THE INTERNET AND COPYRIGHTS

Music piracy has existed as long as recording equipment has been available. Distributing unauthorized copies of copyrighted material, though illegal, has become popular in recent years with the advent of computers, the Internet and technology used to create copies of songs and share them with other users. The RIAA, or Recording Industries’Association of America, is the predominant organization opposing music piracy. They have undertaken legal action against people offering music online, and even some who only downloaded songs. The RIAA has published several articles concerning piracy and copyrights. In one document they state, “Piracy cheats producers, composers, sound engineers, studio musicians and vocalists by stealing part of the royalties* on which they depend for their lives”. It seems, therefore, that distributing and even simply downloading music is against the law. However, a survey done by Internet & American Life in 2005 shows that 35 million US citizens download music and 26 million share files online. The survey shows that 67% of users who download say that they do not care if it is copyrighted, 27% say they do care about copyrights, and 6% either don’t have a position, or don’t know enough about the issue.

* royalties: the percentage that the author of a song, book, etc. receives from the sales of the product. a) Add True or False, quoting the relevant information from the text. (3 p.) 1. Music piracy has existed since music exists.

2. The law is against distributing and even simply downloading music.

3. The survey shows that 67% of users who download say that they do not know if it is copyrighted. b) Read the text and, according to it, answer the questions. Use your own words. (2 p.) 1. Why does the RIAA oppose music piracy?

2. What do most people think of downloading music? c) Complete the following sentences. Both sentences should have the same meaning (2 p.) 1. You can create copies of songs using the Internet and technology. Copies of songs...

2. They have undertaken legal action against people offering music online. Legal action...

3. 67% of users download music. They say that they do not care. 67% of users...

4. They don’t know about copyrights. They download music and share files. If... d) Write about the following topic, between 70-100 words (3 p.) What is your opinion about the problem of music piracy?