Unit 10. Illegal downloads

1. BEFORE LISTENING

1. Practice the pronunciation of the following words taken from the text which you are going to listen to.

Report, advising, government, copyright, consumer, attitudes, illegal, downloading, researchers, file-sharing, network, access, worth, uncertainty, confusion, warns, criminalizing.

2. Give Russian equivalents to the following English words and word combinations.

A body advising the government, to advise on copyright, consumer attitudes, illegal downloading, file-sharing network, to get free access to material, worth some billion pounds, to download illegally, to be involved, uncertainly about what is illegal, to add to the confusion, to warn the government, to criminalise downloaders, huge economic costs.

2. WHILE LISTENING

3. Listen to the text “Illegal downloads”. Make notes about the numbers which you might hear.

4. Agree or disagree to the following statements.

1. The report for a body advising the government on patents looks at consumer attitudes to counterfeiting.

2. Researchers called 1.3 million people during the weekend.

3. Researchers worked out that over a month, people were getting free access to material worth 20 billion pounds.

4. The report says there are six million people who download illegally.

5. People who download illegally in the USA are students and older people.

6. The report says there's much uncertainty about what is or is not illegal.

7. The confusion is that so much on the internet is free.

8. The report advises the government to criminalize downloaders.

5. Listen to the text again and fill in the gaps using the following words.

government, copyright, illegal, researchers, weekday, free, worth, report, download, students, involved, uncertainty, internet, confusion, criminalizing, huge, work

Illegal downloads

The report for a body advising the _____ on _____ looks at consumer attitudes to _____ downloading. _____ found 1.3 million people online on just one file-sharing network on a _____ and worked out that over a year, they were getting _____ access to material _____ 120 billion pounds.

The _____ says seven million people who _____ illegally in the UK can't all be _____ , older people must also be _____. But it says there's _____ about what is or is not illegal, and the fact that so much on the _____ is free only adds to the _____. The report warns the government that _____ downloaders could have _____ economic costs and might not even _____.

3. AFTER LISTENING

6. Answer the following questions.

1. What does the report for a body advising the government look at?

2. What did researchers find out?

3. What did researchers work out?

4. What does the report day?

5. What adds to the confusion and uncertainty about what is or is not illegal?

6. What does the report warn the government?

7. Match the following words from the text placed in the left column with their synonyms given in the right column. Consult a dictionary if necessary.

body copyright report consumer illegal access uncertainty confusion criminalize costs

vagueness unlawful, illegitimate admission, admittance disorder, mess organisation or institution expenses a piece of writing legal right user, buyer to make illegal

8. Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

Researchers found Researchers worked out that The report says There's uncertainty about what So much on the internet is free Criminalizing downloaders

these can’t all be students only adds to the confusion 1.3 million people online on just one file-sharing network could have huge economic costs people were getting free access to material worth 120 billion pounds. is or is not illegal.

9. Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms etc for the word copyright’’. Fill in the table given below.

Copyright

• Share your findings with your partners.

• Make questions using the words you found.

• Ask your partner / group your questions.

10. Do you think that illegal downloading is typical only of the UK? Is that a problem in the Russian Federation? Make a short presentation on the topic.

11. Read the following text for extra reading. After the text there are some questions to answer.