The recording industry is fighting a losing battle

[rahul.gmat]

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?
Will recording industry lawyers dedicate the majority of their time to prosecuting those who illegally download music?
Is a small minority of individuals responsible for the majority of illegal song downloads?
Do many individuals who illegally download songs share their music files with other Internet users?
Will new Internet security technology permit the recording industry to more quickly and easily identify individuals who illegally download music?
Will the threat of prosecution alter the behavior of those who illegally download music?
The argument concludes that the prosecution of a small number of people who download music illegally will have a minimal impact on the overall number of people who engage in illegal downloading. The correct answer must relate specifically to this issue and provide additional insight as to whether it seems reasonable.

(A) One premise of the argument states that the recording industry does not have the resources to prosecute all individuals who download music illegally, while a second premise states the number of people who will be charged with a crime is limited. These statements indicate that the legal resources of the recording industry are too limited to have a major impact on the overall number of people who engage in illegal downloading, no matter how these lawyers dedicate their time.

(B) If a small minority of individuals were responsible for the majority of illegal song downloads, the actions of the recording industry could have a significant impact on the number of downloaded songs. The conclusion of the argument, however, was about the number of people who download songs illegally; this number would remain unaffected.

(C) Whether songs are downloaded illegally and then shared with other Internet users is not relevant to the conclusion.

(D) Similar to answer choice A, this choice is limited by the premises of the argument. If new Internet security technology permits the recording industry to more quickly and easily identify individuals who illegally download music, then the recording industry will know who is breaking the law. However, the lack of industry resources still restricts the industry’s ability to prosecute a large number of people, even if they are identified as individuals who illegally download music.

(E) CORRECT. The argument concludes that the prosecution of a small number of people who download music illegally will have a minimal impact on the overall number of people who engage in illegal downloading. However, if the threat of prosecution were enough to "alter the behavior" of others (i.e., deter them from illegally downloading music), the actions of the recording industry could have a significant impact on the number of people who illegally download music.

Why is (E) better than (B). (B) seems to have more in common with the argument. So what if it weakens the argument, we are just asked to find something to evaluate the argument, not support it. By the same token if the answer to (E) were yes, even (E) would weaken the argument. Further, even if teh threat of prosecution alter the behavious of only those prosecuted, it will still have a minimal impact. I dont know... seems ambiguous. (C) seems better to me, can you please elaborate.

[rahul.gmat]

Sorry about the haste in putting up this post, after thinking for a while I think I get it. Dont bother... thanx anyways.

[dbernst]

This is an uncommon GMAT question type. Whereas the majority of the critical reasoning questions on your GMAT will be weaken/strengthen, inference/draw conclusion, or assumption questions, a small number will fall into the category we simply call "other." With these problems, read the question carefully, as it will offer the necessary information to correctly approach the problem. In this case, we want to know which piece of information (i.e. "The answer to which of the following questions") would best help us "evaluate the accuracy of the conclusion"

Since the question hinges on the conclusion, we must make certain that, at a minimum, we identify the conclusion as we diagram the argument.

Conclusion: the actions of the recording industry will have a minimal impact on the number of people who illegally download music.

Furthermore, "the actions of the recording industry" in the conclusion refer to the prosecution of individuals who illegally download music. The author believes these actions will have a minimal impact because the industry "does not have the resources to prosecute all of the individuals who illegally download music"

(A)Will recording industry lawyers dedicate the majority of their time to prosecuting those who illegally download music?
(D)Will new Internet security technology permit the recording industry to more quickly and easily identify individuals who illegally download music?
Answer choices A and D are not very helpful, since, according to the primary premise of the argument, the industry still does not have the resources necessary to prosecute all of these individuals who illegally download music.

(C) Do many individuals who illegally download songs share their music files with other Internet users?
Answer choice C is outside the scope of the argument, since it refers to the actions of individuals AFTER the songs have already been downloaded.

(B)Is a small minority of individuals responsible for the majority of illegal song downloads?
Answer choice B is definitely the "attractive distractor." If a small minority of individuals are responsible for the majority of song downloads, the actions of the recording industry could have a major impact on the NUMBER OF ILLEGAL DOWNLOADS. Unfortunately, the conclusion of the argument was not about the number of downloads, but the NUMBER OF PEOPLE engaged in illegal downloading. This information would not affect the number of people downloading songs.

(E)Will the threat of prosecution alter the behavior of those who illegally download music?
Answer choice E, the correct answer, is extremely relevant to our conclusion. If threatening prosecution of illegal downloaders "alters the behavior" of illegal downloaders, the actions of the recording industry could significantly affect the accuracy of the argument's conclusion.

-dan

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?
Will recording industry lawyers dedicate the majority of their time to prosecuting those who illegally download music?
Is a small minority of individuals responsible for the majority of illegal song downloads?
Do many individuals who illegally download songs share their music files with other Internet users?
Will new Internet security technology permit the recording industry to more quickly and easily identify individuals who illegally download music?
Will the threat of prosecution alter the behavior of those who illegally download music?
The argument concludes that the prosecution of a small number of people who download music illegally will have a minimal impact on the overall number of people who engage in illegal downloading. The correct answer must relate specifically to this issue and provide additional insight as to whether it seems reasonable.

[rahul.gmat]

Thanx once again Dan, u guys really put in so much effort to excplain the answer. Makes me feel so confident that I have understood it; not like other companies who just mention ambiguous explanations with no detail.

[dbernst]

Rahul,

We are glad that you're having such a beneficial experience with Manhattan GMAT. Please feel free to share this experience with your friends or associates who are planning to prepare for the GMAT. Referrals by students such as yourself are the primary impetus behind our rise to the position of industry leader in GMAT preparation. And of course, by all means, continue to ask questions!

Thanks again for the mad props.
-dan

Thanx once again Dan, u guys really put in so much effort to excplain the answer. Makes me feel so confident that I have understood it; not like other companies who just mention ambiguous explanations with no detail.

[hilakshmiv]

Per B, if the music industry is able to prosecute even a few people, its action will impact the number of people downloading illegal music, right?

[jnelson0612]

Per B, if the music industry is able to prosecute even a few people, its action will impact the number of people downloading illegal music, right?

Not necessarily . . . let's say the music industry prosecutes three people this year who downloaded music. Unless the media reports these prosecutions, would we even know that they happened? Also, even if people learn of these three prosecutions, this small number of prosecutions may not particularly prevent people from downloading music if they assume that everyone is downloading music and only a very small number ever get prosecuted.

[jp.jprasanna]

Per B, if the music industry is able to prosecute even a few people, its action will impact the number of people downloading illegal music, right?

Not necessarily . . . let's say the music industry prosecutes three people this year who downloaded music. Unless the media reports these prosecutions, would we even know that they happened? Also, even if people learn of these three prosecutions, this small number of prosecutions may not particularly prevent people from downloading music if they assume that everyone is downloading music and only a very small number ever get prosecuted.

Hi Jamie and Dan - Im still confused with B...

Conclusion - the actions of the recording industry will have a minimal impact on the number of people who illegally download music

Option B - Is a small minority of individuals responsible for the majority of illegal song downloads?

So here one aspect of the conclusion is the degree at which actions of the recording industry will have on the ppl downloading songs...

lets assume there are total 100 individual who download 10,000 songs...

Of this 10 are responsible for 9000 downloads then prosecuting this group would help evaluate the accuracy of the conclusion right?
Or if 99 of this grp are responsible for 9999 downloads then the argument's conclusion holds right?

Im not questioning the right answer but wanted to learn more about this option....

[tim]

99 of 100 people is not a small minority, so it has nothing to do with B. 10 of 100 is a small minority, but the point is that if the industry goes against this small number it might drastically reduce the incidence of piracy but not substantially cut down the NUMBER of people downloading illegally. keep in mind the focus of the argument was reducing the number of people..

[RonPurewal]

Hi Ron & Other MGMAT experts.
I have a question about option b
conclusion: the actions of the recording industry will have a minimal impact on the number of people who illegally download music.

Is a small minority of individuals responsible for the majority of illegal song downloads?

If my answer is YES, then the actions of the recording industry will have impact.

Nope.

* The passage says that the industry doesn't have enough resources to prosecute all of the illegal downloaders.
This is a fact. It's not false"”even if that group is still relatively small.

* More importantly, the passage draws a conclusion about the number of people who download music. The number of songs that they download is irrelevant.
This answer choice basically just says that the downloads are not evenly distributed"”i.e., some small # of users are doing most of the downloading, while the rest of the users are only taking a few songs here and there.
Since we only care about the number of people downloading stuff, none of this matters.