Heat for Heath

I spent the last hour looking for information regarding Heath Ledger’s death. The famed actor of Brokeback Mountain (2005), and of course 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), was found dead with a bottle of sleeping pills inside his Manhattan apartment on the 22nd of January 2008. The police have not concluded the cause of death yet as there were "no obvious signs of suicide" nor of any evidence of foul play. Authorities suspect a possible case of drug overdose as several prescription bottles were found in the apartment. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heath_Ledger)

With the mystery surrounding the demise of the actor, people started to sensationalize the cause oF death as drug abuse-overdose. News came out that there was a video some two years ago, of Heath in a party involving illegal drugs with people snorting coke and other drugs. This video of drug use was purchased by The Insider and Entertainment Tonight reportedly for $200T. The two shows have aired out promotional clips on television showing the actor with the druggie background and the actor mentioning his wife & his 3-month old kid, who were staying in the same hotel. These teasers were showed a couple of days after Heath’s death. An aggressive lobby from powerful film industry figures and actors pressured both shows to pull out the video out of respect for Heath Ledger’s family. (http://omg.yahoo.com/hollywood-defends-ledger-in-video-quash/news/6134)

Even with the pull out of the 2 shows, the damage has already been done. The teasers have definitely stirred up the crowd, and soon enough the video would be available in the internet. Once the video is uploaded to the internet, even just in youtube, such video becomes public property—with virtually anyone from anywhere downloading it. The accessibility and anonymity of the net makes the proliferation of video-scandals easier. Despite the “public policy”, people are freely uploading scandals of all sorts to appease the “issue-driven” public. Armed with the proper gadgets, you can easily ruin a person’s life by destroying his reputation online.

It is a given that the technology we have now has definitely improved information dissemination a million times in the global level. IT has definitely paved the way to the communication and coordination in the 2nd People Power. However, such correspondence can also go the other way, such as the passing on of obscene and indecent materials. Who then could control the content? Since the internet is global in the virtual world, who has jurisdiction over the subject matter. A court can prohibit the posting of certain materials on the net but what would happen if the same video that has been prohibited be posted by another in a different country? Assuming that the State Court of California issues a restraining order against Entertainment Today and The Insider, would that preclude The Buzz from airing the same video or from anyone uploading the video to the net?