Greetings from Las Vegas. BigBrainBoy is currently sitting 27 stories up staring at the multiple jumbotrons on the strip completely mesmerized…

In this zen state of massive display overload an interesting thought popped up: Who controls what is released? When it is released? Where it is released? These are the questions that have dominated and shaped the structure of all modern mass media. Take for example region coding of DVDs (and now even of printer cartridges). Of course this interwebs thing came along and any schmoe with a camera and an internet connection can distribute anything, anytime and anywhere.

One good example of this is the viral ad that I alluded to in an earlier post. Today VW announced that they have filed suit against the “unknown” creators of the ad.

Company spokesman Hartwig von Sass said VW lodged a criminal complaint with prosecutors in Brunswick, Germany, but did not specify a perpetrator. “This is an attack on Volkswagen’s good name,” he said of the ad, which he called cynical and criminal.

He could not say who made the film or with what aim.

The article goes on to state the widely reported identity is the “Lee and Dan” team in the UK which claim that they created the ad for their demo reel and had no intention of widespread distribution. And herein lies the rub: any item once placed on the ‘net can become available to tens of millions instantly. Sometimes a random screencap from CNN gets featured on a few prominent blogs and a random server is overwhelmed by the massive influx of traffic. Not that we would know anything about that…

So while Lee and Dan may have created the ad with small scale expectations its important to keep in mind that in the internet age there is no small thing as a small player.

Jeff Jarvis has his always interesting take on the lawsuit.

Joi Ito mentions it as well…