Is it possible to see the past

This is all a bit abstract and hypothetical but I would like to see your view on the subject.

The nearest star to the Earth (after Sun) is Red dwarf star or Proxima Centauri. It is around 4 light years away from us which means that light needs 4 years to travel from Earth to the Red dwarf. Let's say that there is a planet pretty close to it, inhabited by some kind of modern civilization.

If they had powerful enough telescope to see clearly what is happening on Earth and pointed it at this moment, would they see the Earth the way it was in year 2007. or would they see it the way it is now, in 2011?

I hope that I was clear enough and thanks in advance.

In astronomy, that's all we get to see. We've been aware of that for quite a while. When we look at the Sun, we don't see it as it is this instant. We see it as it was about 8.5 minutes ago. We don't even know if it exists at the present moment.

Similarly, if somebody from a distant planet... say 1,000,000 light years away were to spot this damp piece of space dust we call Earth they would be observing it as it looked when the light reflected from it left 100,000 years ago. If they had their own version of our SETI program, they won't be able to receive any kind of coherent signal for about 999,900 years. By then, we might not even exist. Or maybe the planet will be gone... maybe the whole solar system... maybe the whole galaxy.

Is there a way to get the "information" there faster? As far as we know, the speed of light is the universal speed limit. There are a bunch of theories about circumventing that limit. But so far, the theories are beyond any technology... or can foresee.

They would see the Earth as it was in 2007, but they would be viewing it in the modern year of 2011. The light being reflected from our earth would be from 2007 but since it takes 4 years for the light to get there, there would be a 4 year lag between what is actually happening here and what they see by the time the light reaches them.