2024 CSAT — Q62

Locate. This asks for the best-supported inference: find the line carrying the passage’s point and read its implication. The passage warns that connected-device makers, chasing “thin profit margins,” will gather “more of our personal data—with or without our agreement—turning the home into a corporate storefront,” and that marketers have “powerful incentives to observe consumer behaviour.” The thrust is intrusion into the home’s data.

Test (find-the-line-then-match + tone-match). “With or without our agreement” and “corporate storefront” carry a clear privacy/security warning. (d) — interconnected devices can be a security risk and home users may have privacy risk — is the implication that hangs off those lines, and it matches the passage’s wary tone.

Eliminate by anatomy. (a) is a claim the passage never actually makes — “capital expenditure in manufacturing” is nowhere in the text. (b) is a claim the passage never makes, welded to a true detail — it spins data-gathering into “commerce, trade and overall economic development,” a benign macro story the passage never tells; the passage’s concern is data extraction from households, not GDP. (c) is a claim the passage never makes, and the wrong tone — “comfort… improve quality of life” is a positive claim contrary to the passage’s warning. The transferable rule: match both the line and the tone — a warning passage implies a risk message (d), not an upbeat economic or comfort message. Key: (d).

Manufacturers will gather “more of our personal data—with or without our agreement—turning the home into a corporate storefront,” and marketers have “powerful incentives to observe consumer behaviour” — the implied message is that interconnected devices put home users at privacy (and security) risk, exactly (d). (a) and (b) spin data-gathering into capital expenditure / economic development the passage never claims; (c) is a positive comfort claim contrary to the passage’s warning tone.

The passage is a warning: connected-device firms, to beat thin margins, will harvest household data “with or without our agreement,” turning the home “into a corporate storefront,” and marketers are incentivised to watch consumer behaviour. The implied practical message is the risk this poses to users’ privacy and security.

(d) states exactly that. (a) and (b) convert the data-grab into investment / economic development the passage never claims; (c) offers comfort and quality-of-life, contradicting the warning tone.

Answer: (d).

Tone is the discriminator. The passage is a privacy warning (“with or without our agreement,” “corporate storefront”), so its implied message is a risk (d). Two distractors (a, b) launder the surveillance into positive economics, and one (c) into consumer comfort. The scoring move is to keep the implication aligned with the passage’s evaluative stance — a cautionary passage implies a caution, not a celebration.