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Jack Thompson Sets His Sights On Halo 3

Posted by Zonk on Mon Sep 24, 2007 11:41 AM
from the because-he-has-nothing-better-to-do dept.
Government The Courts Entertainment Games News
GamePolitics is reporting that anti-game advocate Jack Thompson is seeking to have Halo 3 declared a nuisance to the public in Florida. He tried the same stunt with Bully, and failed then too. "As with Bully, Thompson clearly hopes the court will grant him a hearing. Although after last year's well-publicized Bully performance, which earned Thompson a Bar complaint from presiding Judge Ronald Friedman, that seems unlikely. More troubling by far are the long term implications of this action. Thompson apparently feels emboldened to invoke Florida's public nuisance law against any video game he desires to target. That is the essence of censorship and the video game industry cannot allow it to continue on any number of grounds - legal, moral or creative."
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Related Stories

[+] Your Rights Online: Jack Thompson Includes Gay Porn With Court Filing 333 comments
An anonymous reader writes "Jack Thompson has done it again, now by making available gay porn for unlimited viewing on public records. Judge Jordan wrote on an issued order: 'The attached exhibit, which includes several graphic images of oral and genital sex between adult males, was filed electronically in the docket in this case, without prior permission from the court... To the extent that the other attorney's alleged conduct is in any way relevant... there was no need for Mr. Thompson to file these graphic images in the public record. A simple reference to the website and its alleged links would have sufficed...'" I'm usually not a fan of giving Thompson continued free publicity, but some of the things he does are just too outlandish not to share.
[+] Thompson Sues ESRB, Best Buy 134 comments
Well known anti-gaming lawyer Jack Thompson is following up on his clever sting operations against Best Buy. He's filed suit against the consumer electronics retailer for allegedly selling M-rated games to underage gamers. He has also included the ESRB in that suit. GamePolitics reports: "As we reported, the claim against Best Buy suit looks as if it will be going nowhere. Thompson has also apparently named the ESRB in the suit. That looks like a non-starter as well. His explanation: 'The ESRB has been sued by Thompson because it is well known that it a) is owned and operated by the video game industry, b) does not even play the games it rates to conclusion, c) routinely mislabels games as to age appropriateness, per testimony before the U.S. Congress, and is engaged in representations to American parents that the age label are accurate and are keeping "Mature" games out of the hands of kids.'"
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Jack Thompson Sets His Sights On Halo 3 50 Comments More /

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  • Who cares! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by guysmilee (720583) on Monday September 24 2007, @11:43AM (#20730567)
    Who cares ... he loses every court battle!

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by pruneau (208454)
      Yeah, exactly who cares. Can /. stop the stooping lower trend and go tour some more interesting landscape.
      Leave this frigtard alone: he just leaves on the attention he is getting.

    • Re:Who cares! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by drydirt (1161445) on Monday September 24 2007, @04:02PM (#20734669)
      Who cares ... he loses every court battle!

      I care. He might win one.

      (We're talking about Florida after all, not exactly a bastion of sanity)

  • Nuisance (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Seumas (6865) on Monday September 24 2007, @11:44AM (#20730583)
    Why is he allowed to keep doing this? He should be punished for his endless series of nuisance lawsuits and then he should be held accountable for damaging reputations and businesses with his slanderous, ridiculous, attention-seeking, self-serving accusations. That he is given endless court and television time is highly offensive.
    • Couldn't Jack Thompson be considered a nuisance at this point?

      I want a lawyer on here right now to tell me if I have a case!

      • Re:Nuisance (Score:4, Interesting)

        by InvalidError (771317) on Monday September 24 2007, @02:21PM (#20733163)
        If he keeps filing non-case cases, he'll get more reprimands and if he persists to the point of actually become considered a nuisance by too many judges, I guess he could eventually get disbarred for repeatedly filing frivolous and potentially anticonstitutional cases. Should such a fortunate event occur, he could still file suits but would need to convince some other lawyer to risk his name on the case... so we'd be far less likely to see any more of his cases reach the courts.

        Jack is video gaming's Doc Mailloux... they claim to operate from higher moral grounds but the world would be far better off without them.
    • It's pretty sad, but it can require something REALLY bad in order to actually disbar a lawyer, and even harder for a judge.

      I remember there was a Drunk Driver lawyer in New Mexico called "Ron Bell", and his slogan was "I sue drunk drivers." Then he was arrested for a DUI, and ended up being disbarred. Now he still sues drunk drivers, he just doesn't represent you himself in the court, as he's not allowed to.

      • Re:Nuisance (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 24 2007, @01:05PM (#20731901)

        It's pretty sad, but it can require something REALLY bad in order to actually disbar a lawyer
        A single bullet ought to do the trick nicely.

        (Yes, Mr Thompson, chalk up another on your pathetic list of "death threats"! Because every AC on Slashdot is actually a murderer - no, worse than that, a gamer in disguise!)

    • Re:Nuisance (Score:5, Informative)

      by SparkleMotion88 (1013083) on Monday September 24 2007, @12:10PM (#20731023)
      TFA quotes parts of the Florida law related to nuissance. To sum up even more, something can be declared a nuissance if it damages the moral well-being of the community. The law uses prostitution and gambling as an example.

      These sorts of laws exist for your own protection. If you would choose to engage in these activities, then obviously you are ignorant of the harmful effect it can have on your life and afterlife. So if Jack thinks Halo is morally harmful to those who play it, then he's right and it will be banned as long as a majority of the people agree with him.

      But seriously, we see stories like this in the news all the time, and we continue to fail to see the actual cause of the problem. People like Thompson and others are just using the system that is in place for their own gain. That makes them smart, not stupid. It is the system that is stupid. If ridiculous laws like this didn't exist to begin with, then ridiculous cases like Jack's would never even be heard in court.

  • Crazy! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Zebra_X (13249) on Monday September 24 2007, @11:44AM (#20730585)
    What? Halo 3 is just another FPS. What is so deplorable about Halo? Actually - it might be a good thing to get MSFT's legal department rolling on crushing this retard.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Seumas (6865)
      I think Jack Thompson misunderstood the tagline - "FINISH THE FIGHT".
    • With the unstoppable might of MSFT's legal dept... maybe we can get this guy disbarred finally.
    • Surely halo is better than your average FPS, in that you are killing weird aliens, and not other humans. Except in MP of course
  • The amount of money that Microsoft can bring in an effort to defend their position (and garner tons more publicity for Halo 3 and Xbox 360) is going to make life hard for Jack. And that's assuming that a judge doesn't just slap it down without too far through the process. I suppose it's too much to ask that he get on some medication to help keep him under control.
  • He was funny a couple of years ago, but it's like an annoying joke that was funny at first and then starts driving you nuts. I wish he just shut up.

  • More press? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Scutter (18425) on Monday September 24 2007, @11:51AM (#20730699) Journal
    Why do we keep giving this guy air time? Enough with the Jack Thompson stories already.

    • It is important to our cause to give publicity (Score:5, Insightful)

      by netsavior (627338) on Monday September 24 2007, @11:58AM (#20730835) Homepage
      Jack Thompson is the greatest asset we have in our fight to keep video games from being villified and banned/censored.

      The primary spokesperson of the anti-video game movement is clearly a psychopath. Completly batshit crazy. If he was not crazy, and used logical (sounding) conclusions and appealed to reasonable or religious sensibilities he would be MUCH more dangerous to free speech than he is.

      So we MUST give him lipservice, we must work to keep his illegal, crazy shenanagins in the news, because as long is he is their front-man, we will always win.
      • I swear to God, I'll pistol whip the next guy that says 'shenanigans!'

            • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

              by netsavior (627338)
              I'll bite and go one step further...
              Ratings systems are for lazy parents.

              My son, who happens to love video games is not yet 3 years old. I could not give 2 shits about what the rating says, he is disturbed by some "child friendly" content, and not disturbed by some "Teen to adult" content. They don't know my kid, they don't know my morals, they are doing their best to convey some sort of moral average. Content is subjective. What is right for my kid is not right for other kids, the only I can actual

  • Sometimes... (Score:4, Funny)

    by 644bd346996 (1012333) on Monday September 24 2007, @11:56AM (#20730807)
    ... Goliath actually manages to kill David.
  • I hope he -does- get a hearing. And the next judge puts in a Bar complaint as well. And the next, and the next... Maybe then he'll be forced to stop wasting everyone's time and money. Permanently.

    Unfortunately, I think 'public nuisance' is way too strong a term for a video game, unless it includes subliminal messages to kill your parents and each your neighbor's dog. And even then, I think there are probably better terms for the criminal behavior involved.
  • Can we please start ignoring Jack Thompson and not posting anything about him anymore? All you're doing is showing that someone cares about what he does. Ignore him and he'll wither and die, deprived of attention like a flower deprived of light and water.
  • Just say that it promotes racism by having human beings mercilessly kill aliens. If that is not a **race** war, I don't know what is.

    Hey, this shit works for Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, right?
    • Racism is between members of the same species. As far as we know the aliens are a completely different species. You could say the game promotes genocide and specieism if that is even a word.

  • Public Nuisance? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by sunderland56 (621843) on Monday September 24 2007, @12:11PM (#20731065)
    With Bully, Jack Thompson had a sliver of a case - that children in a private school might buy the game and start emulating it in real life by beating up their classmates.

    Similarly, he might have a case with GTA:Vice City, where people in Las Vegas might buy the game and then start randomly shooting people and stealing cars.

    But Halo 3? What, the astronauts on the International Space Station might play the game, and then start shooting each other in real life?? And even if they do, how is that a public nuisance?

  • If we all would just ignore this nutjob, he'd eventually go away.

  • Did you read the complaint? (Score:5, Funny)

    by strredwolf (532) on Monday September 24 2007, @12:40PM (#20731497) Homepage Journal
    I took a look through it, and one thing struck me odd:

    Jack says (in the lawsuit filing) that the release date for Halo 3 is: October 25th, 2007.

    Real release date? Tomorrow.

    FAIL, Jack. FAIL.

  • FYI (Score:4, Insightful)

    by BytePusher (209961) on Monday September 24 2007, @01:28PM (#20732237) Homepage

    I read through Mr. Thomson's COMPLAINT FOR INJUNCTIVE RELIEF AND FOR BREACH OF AGREEMENT to see what he was complaining about. Otherwise he is seeking legal action for Best Buy not obeying a settlement they agreed upon:

    13. When plaintiff first filed an action similar to this in Miami-Dade Circuit Court it was against defendant Best Buy to stop the sale of "Mature-rated" video games at its stores to customers under the age of 17. Best Buy settled that suit by agreeing to henceforth age ID any customer who appeared to be 21 years of age or younger in order to intercept and prevent any sales to anyone under 17. Best Buy announced this new policy nationwide.

    I'm not a lawyer, but I think this is the "Breach of Agreement" part of his complaint. I suspect he has a case for this portion of his complaint.

    Below is the stuff about the game itself:

    9. Halo 3 is a video game that allows the virtual reality player to rehearse violent acts resulting in the death of one's virtual victims. Lee Boyd Malvo, the younger of the two "DC Beltway Snipers" was trained on Halo to kill residents within Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. His "mentor," John Muhammad, knew the efficacy of the first Halo video game in this regard, because the Army in which he served used this same murder simulator to train snipers to kill. Malvo learned well on Halo.

    10. The role of Microsoft's Halo in the "DC Beltway Snipings" was reported on NBC News and was introduced into evidence in the trial of Lee Boyd Malvo.

    11. The proof as to the causal nexus between violence simulation video games and real-world violence is legion, but one of the more notable proofs is found in the August 2005 Report of the American Psychological Association that establishes the direct causal link between violent teenaged video game play and teenagers' aggression. The recent U. S. Supreme Court case of Roper v. Simmons, which struck down the juvenile death penalty, cites the brain scan studies similar to those coming out of Harvard, Indiana, and Michigan State Universities that prove that these violent games are processed in a different part of the brain in adolescents and teens than in adults, and it is the sector of the brain that leads of teen violence copycatting these violent games like Halo 3.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Kesch (943326)
      OMG! You mean I can train to be a sniper with Halo! I never knew it was so easy. Screw the long hard training to be a sniper in the army; I'm going to go get me a copy of Halo and be a pro in no time. This immediately brings a few questions to mind though. For instances, which Halo should I train on? In the PC version, you have to lead with the sniper rifle, in the Xbox version you do not. I can see this making a difference. Secondly, where are the analog sticks on my gun? I'm having a hard time finding the

  • GTA, Bully, Halo, and then... (Score:5, Funny)

    by oahazmatt (868057) on Monday September 24 2007, @02:09PM (#20732959) Journal
    Thompson: As you can see, this so-called "game" features underlying propoganda...
    Judge: ...where?
    Thompson: ...Veiled commands of violence against others...
    Judge: What?
    Thompson: ...and subliminal messages designed to turn our children into soulless killing machines.
    Judge: I'm sorry, I don't see it. The court finds in favor of the defendent. Viva Pinata may remain on shelves.

  • Ah yes... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by l0b0 (803611) on Tuesday September 25 2007, @02:42AM (#20739961) Homepage
    Good thing this guy keeps reminding me which games to buy. He's not paid by the game developers? Shucks.
    • He minus well = Jack Thompson is a sick puppy.
      • How the hell does a guy going through disbarment proceedings still get to go around filing nuisance suits?
        • A couple ways, one I don't think that one is banned from doing so until one has been disbarred, being in proceedings isn't sufficient. I could be wrong about that. Two, one can always file suits on ones own behalf as one has the right to represent oneself in legal proceedings. The law license just allows you to represent other people.

          But the standard precaution does apply a man who represents himself has a fool for a client.
      • There is no well there to subtract.

        Jack Thompson = sick puppy, before you even begin.

    • Re:Payroll (Score:5, Informative)

      by Baby Duck (176251) on Monday September 24 2007, @12:00PM (#20730887) Homepage

      He minus well get paid by Take two and Microsoft.

      minus well? MINUS WELL? It's "might as well".

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by jez9999 (618189)
          How about weaning yourself off that addiction? Seriously, it's bizarre how Americans can be so zealously anti-drug, and yet treat a caffeine addiction as 'just something that most people have'.
          • It's been that way for decades. "Just say NO!" while gulping down an aspirin, antihistamine, Alka-Seltzer, Viagra, Prozac, amphetamine cocktail, and chasing it with a martini and a cigarette. Yeah, we hate drugs in this country.

    • Re:Payroll (Score:5, Funny)

      by GrayCalx (597428) on Monday September 24 2007, @12:03PM (#20730943)
      He minus well ...

      Brilliant. Truly brilliant. The best part is its not even close to the actual letters for the word(s) he meant to say. So I take that to mean he really believes thats what people are saying when they use that phrase. That cracked me up, seriously, that had me Latching Out Lard.
    • Calling him a sociopath is, IMO, an insult to sociopaths. From what I've read, they tend to mimic "normal" people in order to lead a quiet, unassuming life. Thompson is anything but; in fact, he might have some form of dementia. :)

    • Re:Why is he still allowed to practice law? (Score:5, Informative)

      by nuzak (959558) on Monday September 24 2007, @12:20PM (#20731207) Journal
      > I seem to recall him being thrown out of a courtroom in Alabama because he didn't even have the legal right to practice law there

      You don't need to be licensed in a state to practice there. You get admitted pro hac vice (literally "for the occasion"), and it's usually a rubberstamp thing as long as you have a valid license in another state. Thompson's behavior in the Alabama case was so abominable that he had his pro hac vice status revoked for that case, plus a requirement to attach the order to any further applications in Alabama. In other words, he's effectively been disbarred in that state.

      Keep in mind that if Wacko Jacko gets disbarred in Florida, it will almost certainly be a temporary suspension of his license. It's virtually unheard of for a lawyer to be permanently disbarred for misconduct that isn't a felony or blatant ethics violation. Jack may have committed the latter on occasion, but most of his pleadings these days aren't for any client but himself.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by EricTheMad (603880)

      I thought Slashdot was smarter than to give this idiot any attention at all.
      You must be new here. Slashdot is made up entirely of idiots seeking the attention of other idiots by posting clever responses to stories or other peoples comments. If you don't believe me, just read this post again.

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