Jodi Arias Artsite: Is all Internet Content Created Equal?

byMHallet

After only three months,  Alexa has ranked the URL www.jodiarias.com as 47,054 in the US. How did this happen?  There isn't any content on the site Jodi Arias Art Auction. The notoriety that has swirled around the Jodi Arias name is key, not any significant keywords.

We have Son of Sam laws in almost 40 states, to prevent criminals like Jodi from profiting by selling their stories. But recently, courts have found these laws overly inclusive and in violation of First Amendment rights. So the internet has stepped in to promote "murderabilia" such as Jodi's artwork — and it is legal in many jurisdictions. New York only requires victims to be notified when a criminal makes $10,000.

Andy Kahan, who coined the term murderabilia, helped 8 states pass "notoriety for profit laws." He also helped introduce stalled Senate Bill 1528 in 2007, because state laws do not trump the interstate commerce laws which govern the internet.

Thankfully, sites like eBay police themselves. Since Arias' first degree murder conviction of Travis Alexander, her artwork is no longer for sale on eBay because it falls "under items related to violent felons." Hence the creation of her proprietary site.

The website Jodi Arias Auction is soaring from increasing page views. In this case of an eponymous category, not all content is created equal. The name Jodi Arias is unique and for now, the subject of millions of searches.

A website to sell art from the estate of the notorious serial killer John Wayne Gacy is still online despite his 1994 execution. That Alexa traffic rank is 13,046,952 so hope prevails.

Commerce laws in cyberspace do not need to be defined for us to know right from wrong. The surviving siblings of Travis Alexander are set to file a civil wrongful death suit against Jodi Arias to prevent her from profiting from her art on the internet.  Presumably this suit will include the name of her "art dealer".  All the proceeds from her art will then go to these victims.

As a society we should try and keep our prurient interests in check to deter the success of questionable content that exists only because we click to view it.

Article first published as Jodi Arias Art Site: Is All Internet Content Created Equal? on Technorati.