Game censorship crusader sues Facebook for $120m Anti-video game gadfly Jack Thompson is suing Facebook for $120 million, accusing the social website of causing him emotional distress by not removing threatening comments posted by gamers. Thompson is best known for his frenzied attempts to sue game makers over claims adult content in video games is directly responsible for …
Maybe. I personally think he is full of shit. But inciting people to smash the guy in the face for $50 is out of order, I am pleased the right thing has been done by removing this group. Wrapping an Atari 2600 around his head, just a joke, right?
Yes a very, very small minority may enact scenes they have played in a game to exorcise their ghosts. I just wonder when this number will catch up with those who use TV and film as a guide to acceptable behaviour... or magazines, newspapers, politicians etc. I think you can see where I am going with this.
I see desensitisation as the real devil in the detail of violent games and TV/movies. (The shite printed in popular publications, politicians etc.).
Why? Because it makes it all the more acceptable
I thought that websites were immune to the postings of their users, even if they use moderators. I even thought a few cases recently strengthened this.
Perhaps as some lawyers do, he's hoping judges don't know much about the law, and often it seems even when they do they will allow illegal arguments or evidence unless it is challenged by someone competent enough to have knowledge of precedent. Judges apparently aren't allowed to tell you when your opponent is cheating.
Still it will be amusing when he gets his arse handed to him in court, but I doubt either the comments or his public humiliation by Facebook lawyers will prevent him from spouting more ridiculous claims that video games are a good excuse for psychotic behaviour.
Just because you say (in a joke, or in anger ) you will kill someone does not mean you will do it. A game is just that - a game. And because someone says they will wrap an Atari around your head does not mean they will do it. ALSO, just because you mark an email to the MD/Governor/President/Prime minister as URGENT does NOT mean you will get a reply.
The fucktard needs to wake up. He is not the ONLY person in the world with a problem.
We need sensibility here.
Mine's the one with the "get out of jail free" card in the pocket
Riding for the cause of those who don't need it, don't want it and wouldn't stop to look if he got hit by a bus.
Since he got disbarred for his actions the would has been a more acceptable place, however now it seems, he is back, going for the big money, god help us all if the US let this guy win.
Post him a dollar stuck to an envelope for the cost of the faxes sent and call it quits.
Some posts may be a little out there on Facebook, but really, it is the meeting place of like minds to rant and rave and discuss their illicit meetings and rear guard activities.
>"Facebook should've at least had the courtesy to reply to the faxes rather than just blow them off."
No they shouldn't have, they're under no obligation to waste their time answering green-ink letters from every kook and wackjob out there, and taking him the least bit seriously would only encourage him. Never respond to a troll!
A game called 'Kill Tom Jackson'? (No resemblance to anyone living or dead ...) Make the guy a douchebag ambulance-chasing lawyer. The objective is to wipe him out in any one of a number of possible ways before he wins a $100million lawsuit. Extra bonus if you can get the grand piano to drop on his head just as he approaches the courthouse doorway, or attacked by a poisonous pet octopus.
Naturally this would be just a game, and I stress this lest people start stringing grand pianos over courthouse entrances or combing the south seas for venomous octopi.
I should also like to point out that reading the (totally unrelated) article about someone justifiably and properly suing Facebook for their incredible negligence caused my blood pressure to rise to dangerous levels. That puts the Reg on the hook for ... shall we say £20mill? Make it 50 to be sure.
I can't say I'm a fan of this idiot, but I don't agree with the "$50.00 to punch him in the face" thing - we run the risk of convincing non-gamers that he may be right when we do things like that.
That said, is faxing the CEO of the company the suggested means to get something removed? I don't use Facebook, but I suspect there is some info on how to lodge a complaint through the correct channels.
Probably best if he doesn't use email though, I have no difficulty imagining him spamming everyone to get his message across.....
Jack Thompson isn't just some douche, or idiot, or crusader - nothing that benign. Jack Thompsom is a bully, pure and simple. What makes him dangerous is that he is a smart bully. He knows how to use the legal system, launching legal actions to intimidate, harass, and ultimately force people to do his bidding. If you are summoned into court to defend yourself, you need a lawyer. How long can YOU pay a lawyer? Jack Thompson doesn't have to - he IS a lawyer. It's usually costs less to simply OBEY him instead of fighting him in court. Imagine the chilling effect on free speech - if you speak your mind, you get sued.
Grenade? I guess I cannot safely advocate taking a greased grenade, and shoving it right up his .... anymore. But Jack Thompson cannot die of natural causes soon enough to suit me. No wonder dictators always kill the lawyers first.
"I should also like to point out that reading the (totally unrelated) article about someone justifiably and properly suing Facebook for their incredible negligence caused my blood pressure to rise to dangerous levels. That puts the Reg on the hook for ... shall we say £20mill? Make it 50 to be sure." ...... By Maty Posted Friday 2nd October 2009 01:36 GMT
Maty,
Given the Friends in IT that El Reg Attracts [with probably a Good Proportion of them Certifiable] to Court Mayhem in Spheres of ITs Influence would be Most Unwise as IT can Easily Completely Wipe Out Perps Financially.
Closing their Bank Accounts will Freeze All Assets and Destructive Actions which means that the Monetary Banking System is the Supply Driver for the Delivery of War Games for Real for without their Money Laundering and Paper Currency Facilities would Reward Payment to Warrior Terrorists not be possible ......... and thus is Present Military Industrial Complex Chaos Laid to Rest at their Vault Doors?
Colluding and Conspiring with Deadly Forces to Hold Humanity to Slave Ransoms with Central Bank Spider Control of Virtual Sums/Fully Transferable Great Fortunes, which can surely be Put to Better Beta Good Use in Better Beta Good Hands, would be an InterNetionally Catastrophic Business Model to Champion and Lead, whenever Global ReConstructions are Vogue...... Hot Stuff.
....look just cut of his publicity air-supply! Plain and simple!
Stop this giving this prat time and space in new articles, then his sad little crusade will die, every time you mention MR X ( as I shall now call him to avoid giving him "airtime" ), he gets more interest from the raving middle classes who think that banning dodgy media is the answer to saving little Jocasta's sanity, meanwhile drive air-polluting 4x4s 1 mile up the road, brain-damaging little Jocasta far more!
MR X sounds like he has issues if he needs to sue for hurt feelings from a bunch of mouthy, spotty, cellar dwelling gamers, writing childish comments on a forum no one will ever read!
MR X needs to clear off and grow a pair, worrying about what spotty gamers think indeed!
Jack Thompson is a douchebag.
This guy should be captured then stranded on a desert island that's 10m x 10m in size and surrounded by shark-infested waters and an electrical fences, with no technology and no food.
Granade. Should problably drop a live, triggered one on the island with him before leaving.
He is suing for emotional distress?
This is the guy that stereotyped Scottish people as kilt-wearing alcoholics. Can all of Scotland sue him?
This is the guy that said he would give $10,000 to Paul Eibeler's favourite charity if people would make a game that conformed to his sick and twisted fantasy. Naturally, when 5 people immediately made 5 games, he refused to give the $10,000 to charity. What a douche bag. Luckily Penny Arcade made the donation instead for him. You know those penny arcade guys, who host a big children's charity thing each, while Thompson creates bigger and bigger lawsuits.
If FB did that for everyone that was persecuted in a group's name, where would it end?
If you go through society doing such things, you must learn to live with these sort of feedback.
Maybe the cash incentive to hurt him is a bit too much, but the rest is just nonsensical fun group names that actually have no basis in reality outside of FB. If someone did end up hitting him across the face with an Atari 2600, then I don't see how FB could really be liable. He might, but then he's a fucking douche - simple as that.
No typing violent threats whilst chuckling to yourself is still making violent threats. It's a bit like trying to wink at some one over the telephone. Perhaps a course in netiquette should be compulsory before being allowed online.
I used to think that video games did not condition an impulse to violent behavior, but then I started reading the comments posted on websites by other gamers who thought the same way. There are ways of dealing with life's challenges other then reaching for the linguistic equivalent of a rusty chainsaw which seems to be about the only response you gamers have been left capable of.
anonymous because lets face it, suggesting video games encourage aggression is like pouring petrol on an open fire.
"Jack Thompson should be smacked across the face with an Atari 2600"
Hilarious.
As for faxes, you just know he sent them to Zuckerberg's PA office fax number. You really think that will get the problem resolved? You would likely have infinitely more success by simply using the links provided on the site to report offensive material. But no, this idiot is too important to have his request sit in a queue with the other plebs. Obviously a billionaire CEO should drop everything, stop thinking about strategy, vision etc and deal with the crazed rantings of this moron.
As with anything legal you need to prove the communication was received by the appropriate people before you can legally claim it has not been acted on. Sending a fax to the CEO of a company without getting a receipt would almost certainly not meet the necessary criteria.
Oh,
Jack Thompson is a fucking douche.
Maybe fax is the only conduit? Have you ever tried to notify Google, Adobe, or Ebay of a problem with their systems? All three have gone to great lengths to block complaints, and perhaps fax would be the simplest approach, instead of wading through a labyrinth of web pages and then discovering that you can't complain without "registering", which entitles you to an infinite supply of browser cookies and probably spam down the road.
I regularly notice incredible screwups on Google maps, but have stopped even thinking about trying to do my civic duty and let Google know they've made a hash of things. Clearly they don't want to hear about it.
Ditto for Adobe and problems with Flash 10.
And then there's the unspeakable Ebay.
Yeah, chipping in on that too.
Seriously though, facebook "groups" that threaten physical harm (jokingly or not) are probably a little over the line. Much as I personally would love to see Jack Thompson go 10 rounds with a bunch of nerd raging FPS players, (there's something worth pay per view!) there is a big fuzzy grey line here. on one side is where things like "Jack Thompson is a fucking douche" and suck like is a political/philosophical statement, and should be protected...and on the other side are serious/overt threats of violence which are illegal and honestly should be prosecuted.
I do not envy facebook for this, or any other of dozens of other cases where the content on their site is somewhere in the grey haze between "acceptable content" and "blatantly illegal."
I wonder if Mr Thompson has ever played Saints Row 2, as one of the Mayhem missions has a rather scathing critique of a certain "Zack Johnson" , during it's introductionary cut scene...
Mr Z Johnson, according to "Playa's" Patron for this, Jane Valderama, " get's a H****n over suing people", & is "forever on Moral crusades...".
So, to paraphrase earlier posters, don't use a Atari 2600, but rather a old gaming P.C, with a copy of Saints Row 2 in the DVD Drive...
@ RE: slooth 'et al.' -- I used to think that video games did not condition an impulse to violent behavior, but then I started reading the comments posted on websites by other gamers who thought the same way. There are ways of dealing with life's challenges other then reaching for the linguistic equivalent of a rusty chainsaw which seems to be about the only response you gamers have been left capable of. --
Hmm, nice conclusion there matey. I'm sure you somehow managed to capture 'every' gamer in the worlds sentiments: as of course you must have met us all to come to that conclusion. Videogames don't condition an impulse to violent behaviour for the vast majority of us, so don't spread FUD.
Of course, Jack Thompson is a lamer but not all of us advocate punching him, I would much rather see him penniless, sporting a big beard and sleeping under some bridge somewhere.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
