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It's funny. Laugh. Government The Courts Entertainment Games News

Jack Thompson Under Investigation 214

Posted by Zonk from the good-morning-mr.-thompson dept.
djflipstarx writes "Jack Thompson, famous anti-videogame lawyer, has found himself in the position of being investigated by the Florida Bar Association after trying to get Penny-Arcade writers Gabe and Tycho arrested. A bunch of people from the Penny-Arcade forums then went and sent letters to the FBA asking for them to check up on Thompson's current actions and review his license to practice law. The fact that even the National Institute on Media and the Family distance themselves from Thompson doesn't help his case either." The lesson here? There are many nerds in the world. Some of them have a posse. Be careful who you pick on.
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Jack Thompson Under Investigation More

Jack Thompson Under Investigation

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  • Small corrections to the Ars article (Score:5, Informative)

    by Southpaw018 ( 793465 ) * on Thursday October 20, 2005 @08:51AM (#13835296) Journal
    Just so everyone's on the same page, that Ars article doesn't get the story 100% correct. There was a second round of phone calls and emails after the initial one mentioned, and the check is from both Gabe AND Tycho. Also, the inclusion of his phone number in the email sig wasn't "unfortunate," as stated by Tycho in the PA blog - Gabe knew full well it was there.

  • What comes around goes around... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sgant ( 178166 ) on Thursday October 20, 2005 @08:53AM (#13835311) Homepage Journal
    Or is it what goes around comes around, I can never remember.

    But anyway, there hasn't been a more deserving guy than this. The guy obviously has mental problems..and I'm not saying this to say "man, dude is CRAZY". I mean mental problems as in "we the jury find Jack Thompson...".

    Maybe he'll seek some help now.

    • Re:What comes around goes around... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Iriel ( 810009 ) on Thursday October 20, 2005 @09:31AM (#13835691) Homepage
      The more that I've found out about Jackie T, the more I think he's not some self-convinced hero (Don Quixote with aggression issues), but simply power-mad. He starves for strength and control, but now I'd prefer that he stays in the public light and insane. As Mike (Gabe) said on the PA site, it's better to have some raving clown trying to get rid of games as opposed to someone actually intelligent that could get somewhere.

      Let him keep his fantasies because he'll keep going even if he gets disbarred (I guess that's how you would say it, I don't know), but there will always be more to take his place. Let's keep this monkey here so we can laugh at his nonsense instead of worry about his results.
    • I mean mental problems as in "we the jury find Jack Thompson..."

      Not guilty by reason of insanity?
    • If believing legitimate studies made by impartial scientists is crazy then sign me up. As Jack says, the debate over whether or not violent interactive media has a strong impact on the development of young minds is over. Your ten year old kid should not be playing GTA3.

  • Guess Jack is learning an important lesson... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by thesandtiger ( 819476 ) on Thursday October 20, 2005 @08:57AM (#13835353)
    ... that lesson being "Other people can write letters too, and they vastly outnumber you."

    Of course, I imagine that poor, pathetic, insane Jack Thompson probably imagines that he's the noble martyr in some epic battle against the hordes of evildoers who want nothing more than to poison the minds of children, and will not, for a second, ponder the possibility that maybe he's wrong.

    Jack, people you thought of as staunch allies have left you, are publically distancing themselves from you. Thousands of people are writing letters demanding that you be investigated while not a single solitary soul is writing the FBA saying you're a good guy. Most people might take that as a hint that their views are not actually meshing well with reality - hopefully you'll take this opportunity to take an assessment, get some help, and most importantly, shut the fuck up already.

    • Re:Guess Jack is learning an important lesson... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by slavemowgli ( 585321 ) on Thursday October 20, 2005 @09:03AM (#13835410) Homepage
      As Winston Churchill said - "a fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject". Jack Thompson sure seems to qualify, so there probably isn't much hope that he'll realise he's not the knight in shining armour he seems to see himself as.

      Unfortunately.

    • Re:Guess Jack is learning an important lesson... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Patrik_AKA_RedX ( 624423 ) on Thursday October 20, 2005 @09:08AM (#13835458) Journal
      Thousands of people are writing letters demanding that you be investigated while not a single solitary soul is writing the FBA saying you're a good guy. Most people might take that as a hint that their views are not actually meshing well with reality
      People like Jack see such things different. He'll probably assume the "majority":
      * doesn't care enough and needs him to save them.
      * is too affraid to act and needs him to save them.
      * is under the influence of these evil games and need him to save them.

      I don't think we're already rid of him. And even if he's gone, there're still thousands more, eager to replace him. Each of them equally clueless.
      • "And even if he's gone, there're still thousands more, eager to replace him. Each of them equally clueless."

        I know what you mean, he definitely won't be the last, but really, Jack is not in some high and mighty position where people can't already co-exist with his stance in his field of, errr . . . expertise. A group of crazy people (for example, crazy lawyers) would have to be fully aware that they are crazy to be organized enough to put only one of themselves out on the playing field at a time, the rest
      • I don't think we're already rid of him. And even if he's gone, there're still thousands more, eager to replace him. Each of them equally clueless.

        Thankfully, if Thompson is gone, the fact that he tried but failed with his insane tactics sets a sort of precedent for the next time some bozo finds a soapbox and tries to convince the world that he has a point.

        When I say precedent, I don't mean legal precedent (there hasn't been any sort of judicial ruling declaring that Thomson is totally fscking loco ... yet),
    • ... is the other lesson to be learned.

      After all, geeks are the people who control telecommunications, energy distribution, "your computer," transportation, and most of the data in the world.

      Do you really wanna open that box?

      • Not really (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Moraelin ( 679338 ) on Thursday October 20, 2005 @09:12AM (#13835502) Journal
        "After all, geeks are the people who control telecommunications, energy distribution, "your computer," transportation, and most of the data in the world."

        All that and ... most have close to zero communication skills when it comes to making their point to a non-geek. Or even to a geek who's not already a zealot on the same crusade. So for the most part, they're safe to ignore.
      • Do you really wanna open that box?


        I think you misspelled can.
        • He could have meant "Pandora's Box."
        • Pandora's Box [wikipedia.org] is far scarier than some old can of worms any day.

          • Pandora's Box is far scarier than some old can of worms any day.

            I've gotten two replies on this, and apparently none of you got the joke. I know he was referring to Pandora's Box, and I know what that is. I did not mean can of worms. I was referring to opening up a can of whoop-ass.

            I'm reminded of an old quote that I think was from Mark Twain. "Explaining the humor in a joke is like dissecting a frog. No one is very interested, and the frog dies of it."

            • If nobody gets your jokes, perhaps you need to work on their delivery?

              It'll even save you having to dissect the poor frogs :-)


            • I've gotten two replies on this, and apparently none of you got the joke.


              The joke was incomplete: You should have also offered to be the one to open the can.

              But be careful with those jokes - they are very dangerous when directed at the wrong person.

      • Again, apologies to Tyler Durden (Score:5, Funny)

        by TripMaster Monkey ( 862126 ) * on Thursday October 20, 2005 @09:59AM (#13835971)
        "Look...the people you are harassing are the people you depend on. We fix your computers, we update your websites, we route your packets, we patch your servers, we guard your data while you sleep. Do not fuck with us."
      • You talk about Geeks as if they (we) were a united group. The geeks that "control the energy distribution" (etc) probably don't give a hoot about this case and some might even agree with Thompson (GASP!)

        "Geek" is a feature of character, not a club or a union.

        Or maybe you were just trying to be funny. That "insightful" moderation threw me off... sorry.
    • He'll probably call it a desparate, left-wing attack on a self-described "lifelong republican" orchestrated by Penny Arcade and those evil game-makers because he's "starting to win."

    • Re:Guess Jack is learning an important lesson... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Profcrab ( 903077 ) on Thursday October 20, 2005 @09:52AM (#13835905)
      Jack is just a desperate man who has seen all his attempts at political notice go away. He sees himself as far more important than he is and does not believe that he need political allies. He thinks that they will flock to him if he gets big enough.

      In short, his actions are that of a frustrated individual. The attack against The Sims and Will Wright should be a dead giveaway. Any rational champion of the cause would have paraded the The Sims around as a decent entertainment and attempted to create catagories of "decent" and "indecent" developers. They also would have done extensive research. Thompson's lack of research, when his profession is built around research, shows that he is not actually interested in the subject itself, only the notice it brings him. He is getting old now, though, and he is seeing his chances at political advancement starting to slip away from him. His desperation shows in his mistakes.

      • Re:Guess Jack is learning an important lesson... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by thesandtiger ( 819476 ) on Thursday October 20, 2005 @10:09AM (#13836069)
        Very true - while it is certainly *possible* for someone to mod The Sims to make it pornographic, the game itself is not. Saying that, because people can mod games to make them hyperviolent or pornographic or both is like saying that we should ban text editors because someone could write "Mein Kampf" in them.

        His using The Sims - a game that has had such huge exposure - was a critical mistake: So many of the people he's trying to reach have played it, and probably are wondering how the heck this guy can actually believe it's mind poison.

        His positions do have a tiny sliver of a kernel of value to them: Children should not be able to directly purchase hyperviolent/sexually charged video games just as they cannot legally directly purchase pornography. If a parent is willing to let their kid play those kinds of games, then let the parent purchase the game. At least that way they have *some* idea of what their kids are up to.

        But any validity gets blown out of the water by such absurdly stupid comments, such as his claiming the Beltway snipers "trained extensively with Halo," rescinding offers to donate to charity, and threatening legal action against people who have done far, far more good (albeit with far, far more profanity and fruit fucking) than he has.

        There is a discussion that can be had here, but it's a discussion that should be had between rational people who actually hope to accomplish something positive - not reactionary fuckwits who lash out blindly at things that they clearly don't understand.

        • His positions do have a tiny sliver of a kernel of value to them: Children should not be able to directly purchase hyperviolent/sexually charged video games just as they cannot legally directly purchase pornography. If a parent is willing to let their kid play those kinds of games, then let the parent purchase the game. At least that way they have *some* idea of what their kids are up to.

          I also thought that Jack himself is the sortof silver lining in this. Parents can see a prime example how important i

        • his claiming the Beltway snipers "trained extensively with Halo,"

          I've been wondering how, exactly, aiming and shooting a nonexistant gun with a little stick and some buttons could possibly teach me to aim and shoot a real gun with a trigger, weight, and recoil.

          I don't play FPS games, but I was thinking it would be a good experiment to go out on a shooting range once, get a baseline of how bad I am at ait, then play an FPS for a few months and go back to the shooting range to see if I've improved any.

  • Confusion (Score:5, Informative)

    by cordsie ( 565171 ) on Thursday October 20, 2005 @09:04AM (#13835430)
    As far as I can see, nowhere in the article does it state that the man is 'under investigation'. All that's happened to date is that, 'according to a spokesperson, the letters and faxes have been received and forwarded to the disciplinary committee.' I have no idea how this body works, but I'd imagine that forwarding a complaint about someone to the committee does not automatically mean the person in question is 'under investigation'.

    • Re:Confusion (Score:5, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 20, 2005 @09:20AM (#13835578)
      If you visit ground zero (the Penny Arcade forums) you can find some evidence [penny-arcade.com] that this is the case:

      I contacted the FBA requesting an update, and was told that they have been so overwhelmingly innundated with complaints, that they are having an emergency meeting to decide what kind of action to take.

      So there is certainly something happening at the FBA, even if it's not a formal investigation yet.
      • I contacted the FBA requesting an update, and was told that they have been so overwhelmingly innundated with complaints, that they are having an emergency meeting to decide what kind of action to take.

        That sounds good without saying anything. It could even mean the opposite of what you think. Their "emergency meeting" may be to figure out how to investigate Penny Arcade for whipping up a frenzied hate mob against the FBA.

  • He so deserves a serious reprimand from the bar. He actively abuses his "power" as a lawyer. That much is obvious by hi rampant threats to sue anyone who breathes in his direction. If anyone brings "lawyers" into illrepute it is this man.
    • Lawyers who are found to be consistently engaged in the practice of barratry have been disbarred in the past. There's precedent. Of course, the problem is that whomever gets tapped to step up and take his place might not be insane, but could easily be as big a zealot for the anti-games crusade. That could be a problem. Gabe & Tycho mentioned this in their posts, I believe.

  • Hurray (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dtfinch ( 661405 ) * on Thursday October 20, 2005 @09:10AM (#13835481) Journal
    It's not quite the "Jack Thompson committed" headline I was hoping for, but this made my day.
    • ...until this story's been duped at LEAST 5 times, since it's just oh-so-important. If it weren't a big issue, it'd only be 3 times. So after the 3rd posting of this, then we'll see that he's been convicted, then another 2 or so dupes of the fact that he's "under investigation."

      Ahhh... /., how I enjoy thee.
    • Don't you remember your history? Pretty soon we'll see little slackers in life vests driving recklessly in 80's-era sports cars; you'll regret your wording when the newspapers all say "Jack Thompson Commended"!!

  • The new focus of PA fans (Score:5, Informative)

    by Fr05t ( 69968 ) on Thursday October 20, 2005 @09:10AM (#13835486)
    On the PA forums it seems the focus has shifted to contacting mainstream media outlets in hopes this story will get widespread coverage.

    Something like this could certainly hinder Jacks political agenda. We can only hope the rest of the world will see he's nothing more than an ambulance chaser, and networks like CNN will stop classifying him as an 'Expert' of any kind.

  • moderation (Score:5, Funny)

    by Achoi77 ( 669484 ) on Thursday October 20, 2005 @09:11AM (#13835491)
    Looks like we are in the midst of seeing a legal-troll get metamodded to oblivion. Lets see if he'll end up getting the (-1 DISBARRED) moderation...

    • Re:moderation (Score:3, Insightful)

      by cpt kangarooski ( 3773 )
      I strongly doubt it. Lawyers don't get disbarred lightly. He's basically just been a world-class asshole. That's not bad enough to merit such a harsh punishment.

      • Re:moderation (Score:3, Funny)

        by Golias ( 176380 )
        Lawyers don't get disbarred lightly. He's basically just been a world-class asshole. That's not bad enough to merit such a harsh punishment.

        Hell, most lawfirms offer you a full partnership for that!
      • Actually, he's done more than that. He has contacted a police department claiming that he was the target of an extortion attempt.

        That's much more than being an asshole - that's filing a highly specific complaint with the police. He's an attorney, he contacted the police, and he accused the PA guys of being extortionists. Surely there's something wrong when a member of the bar lodges a false complaint with a police department?

        If he was just some guy - not an attorney - he might be able to get away with the "

  • Betting Pool (Score:3, Funny)

    by BartulaPrime ( 744634 ) on Thursday October 20, 2005 @09:15AM (#13835538)
    Okay, so who wants to bet on how long it takes someone to create a "prison simulator" mod utilizing GTA's engine that would allow Jack to be sodomized and sold for packs of smokes?

  • Let's not gloat just yet... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Caiwyn ( 120510 ) on Thursday October 20, 2005 @09:18AM (#13835562)
    To quote the shirt, "I HATE Jack Thompson" as much as anyone, but keep in mind that an investigation alone won't get him disbarred. I'd love to have that kind of P.R. weapon on the side of the games industry, but premature gloating isn't going to win any hearts on the Florida bar. In fact, it may have the opposite effect.

    A better strategy would be to send correspondence to the bar alerting them to other infractions Jack has made besides those against Penny Arcade. For instance, his use of these same tactics on Lou Kerner of Bolt Media is my personal favorite [bolt.com].

    Or you could cite his threats against the author of VGCats [vgcats.com].

    Or even the latest vague legal threats [livejournal.com] against Dave Walsh of the National Institute on Media and the Family.

    One of these can be overlooked, but if the Bar knows about all of these, perhaps Jack will be out of the game for good.

  • Jack under new scrutiny . . . (Score:5, Interesting)

    by galonso ( 705202 ) on Thursday October 20, 2005 @09:23AM (#13835605)
    I have to say I was shocked by the lack of professionalism Jack displayed in his communications, and even given the 'selective quote' syndrome, and suprised how poorly he represents himself.

    I am thankful that /. has been brought to bear in a responsible way, as have the fans of PA, many of whom hang out here too. I was afraid there would be a bunch of childish hacking attempts that would hit the national media furthering his hyperbole, which may in fact have been his intent -- we'll never know.

    I think this shows that PA and /.ers don't 'always get it wrong' and or over-compensate for our passion.

    It's good to be a nerd today;)

  • Beware the self-fulfilling prophecy (Score:5, Funny)

    by Andy_R ( 114137 ) on Thursday October 20, 2005 @09:25AM (#13835621) Homepage Journal
    What would a disbarred and disgraced Jak Thompson be likely to do? He appears to be exactly the kind of dysfunctional person who might take revenge with a big gun.

    Let's hope he doesn't realise that this would actually prove his theory that video games can drive unstable people to commit murder!
    • How would that fulfill anything? Mr. Thompson claims playing video games makes you violent, not that OTHER PEOPLE playing video games makes you violent. If he does go off the deep end like that, there's no excuse that will cover it. Anyways, I'm in a good mood today, I skipped the violent video games last night and went to the range instead. Some of us don't have a problem understanding the difference between Quake and a 8mm Mauser.

      • Re:Beware the self-fulfilling prophecy (Score:4, Funny)

        by Psmylie ( 169236 ) * on Thursday October 20, 2005 @10:07AM (#13836054) Homepage
        I went to the firing range last night, too. I brought my controller along with me. For some reason, whenever I pushed the fire button, nothing seemed to happen. No noise of gunshots, and no holes appeared in my target. Also, pushing the shoulder button didn't activate my grenade launcher. I'm seriously considering getting that controller replaced, as it only seems to fire bullets when hooked up to my computer at home.

    • Re:Beware the self-fulfilling prophecy (Score:5, Insightful)

      by FidelCatsro ( 861135 ) <fidelcatsro AT gmail DOT com> on Thursday October 20, 2005 @10:16AM (#13836139) Journal
      Q: What do all of these people have in common
      Stalin , Hitler ,Jeffrey Dahmer , Charles Manson , Peter Sutcliffe , L Ron Hubbard , Pin head , Jack Thompson

      A: That's right ... non of them played Violent computer|Console|video games ..

      I think we can begin to see some correlation between not playing Violent games and evil .

      Which is roughly the same argument they use to say Games cause violence and it's just as specious
      • No, that's the kind of arguments you make. If there's one thing Jack Thompson ha going for him is a vast amount of studies showing that interactive entertainment has a strong impact on developing minds. Ten year old kids should not be playing GTA3. They shouldn't be watching Kill Bill. They shouldn't be reading their big brother's Hustler magazines.

  • Be careful what you wish for (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ALeavitt ( 636946 ) * <aleavitt.gmail@com> on Thursday October 20, 2005 @09:39AM (#13835772)
    Just like every sane person who's heard what Jack has to say, I'm glad this is happening to him and I think he deserves to be, at the very least, disbarred. However, I think that Gabe put it best on the PA website. To paraphrase, Jack is only playing a part that somebody always plays. We're lucky that the person trying to ban the "awful new evil corrupting our children" is an insane, ranting, name-calling lunatic. If he were articulate, intelligent, and capable of arguing his case with solid logic, we would be in trouble. Without him, there is a vacancy in that position, and it's entirely possible that the vacancy will be filled by someone with a brain this time. Ah hell, just go to http://www.penny-arcade.com/ [penny-arcade.com] and read what he has to say for yourself.

  • PA Political Action Group? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Agilus ( 471376 ) on Thursday October 20, 2005 @09:47AM (#13835858) Homepage
    This is weird, but in a good way, I think.... Penny Arcade has, almost certainly by accident, formed a type of political action group, like all those concerned mothers groups, religious groups, etc. And it's a group that seems to be actually accomplishing things (maybe unlike Slashdot and some political communities). It's kind of funny to think that part of the reason this group is actually doing things is both because it is very passionate, and a larger percentage of it has lots of free time (i.e. no job, part time job, still living with parents, in college, etc.).

    It's realy interesting, and I'm not trying to imply anything negative about the Penny Arcade audience, as I'm certainly one of them (although not a very active one, unfortunately). In fact, I think it could be a very positive thing if they can get the media, politicians (could they be considered a constituency?), and just plain other people to listen to them. Heck, now might be a good time to introduce some of these people to the EFF, or get them otherwise politically involved. *shrug*
    • "a larger percentage of it has lots of free time (i.e. no job, part time job, still living with parents, in college, etc.)."

      Hey! I both resent, and resemble that remark! :(
    • I wouldn't really say Penny Arcade is forming/has formed a political action group because this is really just a response from what you could say is an infringing of Constitutional rights. Jack Thompson has insulted the intelligence of gamers and the noble attempts of charity organizations (the sudden canceling of his $10,000 offer to any charity if someone made him a game?). If you read the fax sent to the Florida police, he is purposely LIED to the chief of police (PA didn't contact him first, they did not

  • More (Score:4, Insightful)

    by keyne9 ( 567528 ) on Thursday October 20, 2005 @09:48AM (#13835866)
    Very important to note that Jack Thompson apparently did not actually fax Seattle PD. Quoth Gabe, "The fact is that Jack actually sent the fax to everyone but the intended recipient at the Seattle PD."

    If that's true, then it is a pretty serious problem for Jack.

    • Re:More (Score:3, Insightful)

      by smbarbour ( 893880 )
      Of course he sent it to everyone but the Seattle PD...
       
        It is against the law to file a false police report.

  • The letter to the FBA (Score:4, Informative)

    by ubergenius ( 918325 ) on Thursday October 20, 2005 @09:54AM (#13835930) Homepage
    This is a link to the letter that was originally sent to the FBA (which was then followed by an absolute flood of letters, faxes, calls and e-mails requesting a formal investigation):

    http://www.penny-arcade.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p =17101843#17101843 [penny-arcade.com]

  • Jack's Response (Score:4, Informative)

    by Bob The Fish ( 828712 ) on Thursday October 20, 2005 @09:54AM (#13835931)
    Mind-numbing as it is, you can find his response at http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000427064233/ [joystiq.com] Comment #10.

    • Re:Jack's Response (Score:2, Informative)

      by Zrith ( 916811 )
      I think the best part of his response is in the last paragraph, where he appears to threaten the Florida Bar Association:
      If The Bar proceeds with any of these, it does so at its own peril. The Bar paid me once. I am certainly willing it pay me again, along with others.
      In addition to this, he is generally insulting to everyone involved. I think Penny Arcade had it right when they said, "Wow. He must be an incredible lawyer."
    • "An outfit in Seattle called "Think Geek" is marketing a t-shirt emblazoned across the front of which are the words "I Hate Jack Thompson." That kind of tells us where they are on the subject of me.

      The parent company is an outfit called Penny Arcade."

      Correct me if I'm wrong but Think Geek isn't owned my PA right? But when did facts ever stop this guy.

  • To Jack Thompson (Score:3)

    by Inoshiro ( 71693 ) on Thursday October 20, 2005 @09:56AM (#13835943) Homepage
    Hi. You're going to call off your rigorous investigation. You're going to publically state that there is no danger or evil from video games, or these guys are going to take your balls. We'll send one to the New York Times, one to the LA Times press release staff.

    Look, the people you are after are the people you depend on. We cook your meals, we drive your ambulances, we connect your calls, we guard you while you sleep. Do not fuck with us!
  • In one life, you're Jack Thompson, legal counsel for respectable families. You show up to court cases, file your legal briefs, and you...help Mrs. Jones protect her children.

    The other life is lived in computers, where you go by the video game-hating alias "Jack the Ripper" and are guilty of threatening and insulting virtually every geek in the world. One of these lives has a future...and one of them does not.

  • Jack's response to the Florida Bar (Score:5, Informative)

    by vitaflo ( 20507 ) on Thursday October 20, 2005 @10:43AM (#13836465) Homepage
    John B. Thompson, Attorney at Law
    1172 South Dixie Hwy., Suite 111
    Coral Gables, Florida 33146
    305-666-4366

    October 20, 2005

    Alan B. Bookman
    President
    The Florida Bar
    Tallahassee, Florida Via e-mail

    Entire Board of Governors
    The Florida Bar
    C/o John Harkness and to Governors Directly
    The Florida Bar
    Tallahassee, Florida Via e-mails

    Re: Targeting of Jack Thompson for Criminal Harassment by "Gamers"

    Dear Mr. Bookman and All Governors of The Florida Bar:

    As you know, eighteen years ago I commenced efforts against the entertainment industry's illegal distribution of adult entertainment to minors. That fledgling effort resulted in the first decency fines ever levied by the FCC.

    The broadcasters struck back with Bar complaints. One happy result of that is that The Bar's insurance carrier had to pay me money damages for The Bar's having taken the bait offered by the SLAPP bar complainants. SLAPP is the acronym for "strategic litigation against public participation." Filing such a complaint violates certain federal civil rights statutes and state laws as well.

    As you also know, the Philadelphia law firm of Blank Rome, which is lead lawyer and chief lobbyist registered in the US House of Representatives and in the US Senate for Take-Two Interactive, has chosen to use the SLAPP approach in our wrongful death case in Alabama by asking the Alabama state judge to kick me off that case because 1) I have been so effective in telling the American people about the reckless activity of their clients, Take-Two and Sony, through 60 Minutes and Reader's Digest that they can't now get a "fair trial," and 2) I have a "colorful history" of pornographers filing SLAPP bar complaints against me, which indicates I am unfit to practice law.

    Interesting logic, but remember: this is Blank Rome talking. Blank Rome has a very long history of "opposition research" through partners such as "Barbara Comstock," who was called by the Washington Post a "one-woman wrecking crew" for her brilliance in character assassination on behalf of her clients.

    Blank Rome's Comstock is the US Congressman Dan Burton staffer who was doing his "work" for him when he was clandestinely keeping a mistress on his federal payroll staff in violation of federal law.

    Blank Rome also has been recently caught up in the scandal of securing Department of Homeland Security contracts for its clients allegedly because of its massive campaign contributions to former DHS Secretary Tom Ridge, Bush-Cheney, and the RNC. This has been covered in the mainstream media. Blank Rome is clearly the most powerful law firm, right now, in America, because of its tight personal and financial relationships with Jeb and George Bush. Blank Rome likes to make stuff up to run over people who are in the way of their clients. Pretty standard stuff, really. But don't you love the fact that a bunch of "family values" Republican loyalists to George Bush are representing Take-Two/Rockstar and fraudulently smearing a conservative Christian Republican who has got Rockstar on the run? But this is wha the GOP has become: the lap dog for corporate America, the parents who provide the party's base be damned.

    I hear today, then, from the Internet-based "enthusiast video game press" that "gamers" are going to file or have filed new SLAPP Bar complaints against me. Here's why:

    An outfit in Seattle called "Think Geek" is marketing a t-shirt emblazoned across the front of which are the words "I Hate Jack Thompson." That kind of tells us where they are on the subject of me.

    The parent company is an outfit called Penny Arcade. In the last several days, the folks at Think Geek provided, improperly, Penny Arcade with my email address, which had not been widely circulated (I had to get rid of the last one because of death threats and the like). Some idiot at Penny Arcade foolishly emailed me and told me, in effect, of the amusement that comes from going after me, and then he foolishly explained on the Penn
    • "gamer idiots," "these morons," "wha the GOP has become," "Some idiot at Penny Arcade"

      Wow! There are grade schoolers who could write a more professional letter.

    • The broadcasters struck back with Bar complaints. One happy result of that is that The Bar's insurance carrier had to pay me money damages for The Bar's having taken the bait offered by the SLAPP bar complainants. [...] If The Bar proceeds with any of these, it does so at its own peril. The Bar paid me once. I am certainly willing it pay me again, along with others.

      Nice. It appears that Jack's strategy is to threaten the Bar Association. I hope that works out for you, Jack.

      • I have a relative who practices family law here in Michigan. He tells me all sorts of stories, "To keep you from becomming a lawyer and hating your life."

        My favorite one is of a lawyer in his firm who ran afoul of the Bar on a minor charge that, at worst, would have meant a fine or possible suspension. He wrote a letter infinitely more professional than JT here has, but in it, he made a comment that a memer of the Bar construed to be a threat of action against the Bar, and he was permanantly disbarred as a
    • From his letter:
      Any Bar complaint coming from these morons arising out of the above incident is baseless and itself constitutes a violation of a specific federal civil rights statute.

      Jebus - Now he's threatening the Bar Association of Florida?! This guy either has some set, or he's a complete idiot...or a dangerous combination of both.

    • Re:Jack's response to the Florida Bar (Score:5, Insightful)

      by actor_au ( 562694 ) on Thursday October 20, 2005 @12:08PM (#13837290) Homepage
      The problem I have with that letter is that its far too casual for a suposed lawyer to have written, especially considering that there is a slim chance his legal license may be revoked(its very very slim and we all know it).

      I'm in university(Political Science and Economics for anyone interested) and on letters to lecturers, tutors and even some students I'm at least moderately formal in my presentation and clear and concise in my meaning.

      If he is meant to be a lawyer he should include case numbers, references to his examples for verification by the Bar Association, some details of the owners of the companies abusing him and his legal actions(claim notices and numbers, filings ect) in response.
      As a lawyer he should have a clear cut break down of the relationship between himself and Penny Arcade from the first moment they encountered each other to the minute he wrote the letter.

      He shouldn't have wasted a third of the letter on some unrelated law firm with connections to George Bush as well. That doesn't fit in the context of the letter and seems to be him just trying to paint himself as a victim of a wider conspiracy.
      While it works on some people, it wouldn't work on anyone investigating the claims, his career and his future based on that contents of that letter.

      Maybe lawyers in America are just more casual in their communications than in Australia.

      Also, every letter he ever writes to the police includes the expression "Cop Killer Simulation/Simulator" when describing GTA, I think Cops know a bit more about cop killers than Jack Thompson.

      Its not that I don't think he's an idiot, I'd just like someone I could at least respect on some level at least as an opponent to Computer games.
      I still agree with the idea of stopping kids being able to play the more violent games out there, and I think most people here do as well.

      But not at the cost of banning them all together.
    • So now he's claiming if someone writes a complaint to the Florida bar association about his behavior, the complainer is opening themself up to a SLAPP lawsuit?

      If you complain to the bar about harassment by a lawyer, you open yourself to further harassment by said lawyer? wtf.

      Will someone with some legal insight respond. I'd hate to see Mr. Thompson succeed in scaring away people from complaining about him to the very folks who give him his power to pull all this.

    • I know that I shouldn't be feeding the troll (especially after one of my recent postings [slashdot.org] , but the situation has changed entirely. Jack Thompson is now exploiting the legal system in the same way that the RIAA does - the only difference is that Jack Thompson doesn't even have any circumstancial evidence. It is now time to revoke his bar certificate, which will naturally destroy his professional credability along with organizations that rely on him.

      The letter hardly meets the requiremens since it does not
    • Those analyzing Jack's letter for logical and factual fallacies are missing the point. Those of us who know the truth immediately know that ThinkGeek is not based in Seattle and that it has a seller/vendor relationship to PA. We know that Mike could have gotten the e-mail from a number of PA's game community contacts, or even from the public posting at VGcats.com (which was even linked on PA's frontpage). We know that many gamers contacting the FBA do so because of alleged acts of unprofessionalism on Ja
    • WHile this looks legitimate, I would like to know the source of this. Where did you get this?
  • That is Darl McBride the lawyer behind the whole SCO vs IBM sitcom? That guy to seemed to display an extremely poor grasp of the law.

    Although the cases are nothing alike the way they both rage on against reason, use only those quotes they like, are extremely selective with their "facts". It sounds like the two could be twins.

    Is there something in legal briefs that drives lawyers insane?

  • Jacks reply (Score:3, Informative)

    by Fr05t ( 69968 ) on Thursday October 20, 2005 @11:09AM (#13836747)
    http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000427064233/#com ments [joystiq.com]

    Comment #10

    Highlights include him thinking Penny Arcade owns Think Geek, and him threatening the FBA. It's most likely however this wasn't actually sent to the FBA, just like his nice letter to the Seattle PD never made it there either.


    . Posted Oct 20, 2005, 9:59 AM ET by jack thompson

    John B. Thompson, Attorney at Law
    1172 South Dixie Hwy., Suite 111
    Coral Gables, Florida 33146
    305-666-4366

    October 20, 2005

    Alan B. Bookman
    President
    The Florida Bar
    Tallahassee, Florida Via e-mail

    Entire Board of Governors
    The Florida Bar
    C/o John Harkness and to Governors Directly
    The Florida Bar
    Tallahassee, Florida Via e-mails

    Re: Targeting of Jack Thompson for Criminal Harassment by "Gamers"

    Dear Mr. Bookman and All Governors of The Florida Bar:

    As you know, eighteen years ago I commenced efforts against the entertainment industry's illegal distribution of adult entertainment to minors. That fledgling effort resulted in the first decency fines ever levied by the FCC.

    The broadcasters struck back with Bar complaints. One happy result of that is that The Bar's insurance carrier had to pay me money damages for The Bar's having taken the bait offered by the SLAPP bar complainants. SLAPP is the acronym for "strategic litigation against public participation." Filing such a complaint violates certain federal civil rights statutes and state laws as well.

    As you also know, the Philadelphia law firm of Blank Rome, which is lead lawyer and chief lobbyist registered in the US House of Representatives and in the US Senate for Take-Two Interactive, has chosen to use the SLAPP approach in our wrongful death case in Alabama by asking the Alabama state judge to kick me off that case because 1) I have been so effective in telling the American people about the reckless activity of their clients, Take-Two and Sony, through 60 Minutes and Reader's Digest that they can't now get a "fair trial," and 2) I have a "colorful history" of pornographers filing SLAPP bar complaints against me, which indicates I am unfit to practice law.

    Interesting logic, but remember: this is Blank Rome talking. Blank Rome has a very long history of "opposition research" through partners such as "Barbara Comstock," who was called by the Washington Post a "one-woman wrecking crew" for her brilliance in character assassination on behalf of her clients.

    Blank Rome's Comstock is the US Congressman Dan Burton staffer who was doing his "work" for him when he was clandestinely keeping a mistress on his federal payroll staff in violation of federal law.

    Blank Rome also has been recently caught up in the scandal of securing Department of Homeland Security contracts for its clients allegedly because of its massive campaign contributions to former DHS Secretary Tom Ridge, Bush-Cheney, and the RNC. This has been covered in the mainstream media. Blank Rome is clearly the most powerful law firm, right now, in America, because of its tight personal and financial relationships with Jeb and George Bush. Blank Rome likes to make stuff up to run over people who are in the way of their clients. Pretty standard stuff, really. But don't you love the fact that a bunch of "family values" Republican loyalists to George Bush are representing Take-Two/Rockstar and fraudulently smearing a conservative Christian Republican who has got Rockstar on the run? But this is wha the GOP has become: the lap dog for corporate America, the parents who provide the party's base be damned.

    I hear today, then, from the Internet-based "enthusiast video game press" that "gamers" are going to file or have filed new SLAPP Bar complaints against me. Here's why:

    An outfit in Seattle called "Think Geek" is marketing a t-shirt emblazoned across the front of which are the words "I Hate Jack Thompson." That kind of tells us where they

  • Here's what to send (Score:4, Informative)

    by kippy ( 416183 ) on Thursday October 20, 2005 @11:50AM (#13837140)
    The FBA's "contact us" page is here [floridabar.org].

    From the PA boards:

    To Whom It May Concern:

    This letter is regarding the current status of the license to practice law currently granted to Jack Thompson through the Florida Bar Association.

    Jack Thompson is a very controversial lawyer, more often than not resorting to political matters to solve his own personal disputes rather than through the legal system. However, in recent months, it has become clear to me that Thompson is not merely a controversial individual, but is also a very corrupt, callous, and often rude individual who, in my own estimation, does not exemplify the ethical and moral principles for which a lawyer should hold, and I believe that the Florida Bar Association, in holding with the claim that "One of the primary purposes of The Florida Bar is to assure the highest standards of professionalism in the practice of law for the benefit of members and the public.", must organize a referendum to determine if Jack Thompson should be able to continue practicing law as a licensed attorney. Evidence for this need is widespread and incriminating. Examples of this unprofessional and unethical behavior are detailed below, and I urge those who this concerns to properly review these actions by this callous individual carefully.

    Recently, he has engaged in a very callous, unprovoked and irresponsible tirade with the creator of the popular VGCats online web comic (http://www.vgcats.com/ [vgcats.com] and evidence of this encounter is available here: http://www.vgcats.com/jack.php [vgcats.com]. During this exchange, Jack Thompson made a number of references questioning Scott Ramsoomair's sexuality, intelligence, and his use of psychotropic drugs, all of which are unsubstantiated and irrelevant to the discourse (which Mr. Thompson initiated), and then proceeded to threaten legal action in an irresponsible manner.

    During this discourse, after initiating contact with Mr. Ramsoomair and proceeding to insult him, he then claimed that he had not initiated contact, despite the fact that it is verifiable that Mr. Thompson did initiate contact.

    This kind of conversational process is not uncommon with Mr. Thompson, and a simple search can uncover literally dozens of people and organizations who have had incredibly negative and often dishonest discourse with Mr. Thompson, commonly initiated by Mr. Thompson himself.

    "(c) engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation;"

    [source: http://www.floridabar.org/divexe/rrtfb.nsf/FV/DE51 D6D9608C634A85256BBC00558300%5D [floridabar.org]

    Furthermore, Mr. Thompson has made claims that the creators of the extremely popular online webcomic Penny Arcade (http://www.penny-arcade.com/ [penny-arcade.com] Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins, were "criminally harassing" him. However, this harassment allegation was made in response to a single e-mail sent to Mr. Thompson which responded to a proposal made by Mr. Thompson (where he requested that someone make an extraordinarily violent video game directed at a specific individual in exchange for $10,000 donated to a charity [source: http://gc.advancedmn.com/article.php?artid=5883%5D [advancedmn.com]). In this response, it was explained that his proposal had been carried out by a programmer
    [source: http://hellfish.gtajunkies.com/Story.html%5D [gtajunkies.com]. Mr. Thompson responded to this civil e-mail by calling the creators of Penny Arcade, spouting vulgarities at them and rudely explaining that the proposal was entirely in jest and that no money would be donated to a charity. Therefore, the o

  • Still not enough, but a good start. (Score:3, Funny)

    by Thedalek ( 473015 ) on Thursday October 20, 2005 @12:14PM (#13837352)
    Personally, I won't be completely satisfied with the whole Jack Thompson nonsense until his name is universally synonymous with critical brain failure. As in, open a dictionary and find:

    Jack Thompson (n, slang) - 1. A state of complete insanity, 2. One who is without rational thought, 3. Legal term describing extreme mental breakdown.

    "Well, you've really pulled a Jack Thompson this time."

    "That guy is such a Thompson."

    "We the jury find the defendant guilty by reason of Jack Thompson."
    • "That guy is such a Thompson."

                Please use both his given name and his surname - some of us prefer our memories of Hunter S. (what memories we have, anyway) to remain unsullied.

  • The fight doesn't end here. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Irvu ( 248207 ) on Thursday October 20, 2005 @01:13PM (#13837859)
    Gabe over at PA made a rather insightful comment on the issue:

    Yack

    Wed, October 19 2005 - 11:33 AM
    by: Gabe

    Tycho and I remain free men. The fact is that Jack actually sent the fax to everyone but the intended recipient at the Seattle PD. There were a lot of names to remember I don't blame him. I've received literally thousands of emails in the past couple days. They are all commending us for standing up to Jack the way we did. Most of them go on to ask what we can do as a community to stop him. I have to admit that is tempting. The more I think about it the more I think it might not be in our best interest. Let me explain.

    You can certainly mail the networks he appears on. You can even send letters to their advertisers. You can contact the senators he speaks with and demand they ignore him. If enough of us do that sort of thing and we do it long enough they will eventually get the message and drop him just like the National Institute on Media and the Family did. Would that be a good thing? I'm not sure.

    Jack is not special. He is not a unique snow flake as they say. He is just the latest vocal opponent of whatever is "corrupting" our youth at the moment. When my dad was growing up it was rock and roll devil music. Then it was comic books then movies and rap music. Today it's videogames. If we were to succeed in getting Jack blacklisted from the major news outlets someone else would simply take his place. Imagine him as an actor playing a part in a play. The point is that Jack Thompson is not important. If he were to be fired a new actor would simply take up the role. The same lines would still be delivered in the same way and the same audience would pay to see it. We are actually fortunate that the current actor is so impotent in his role. Imagine what might happen if some charming, efficacious attorney took his place. The more I consider it the more I think we may be lucky to have Jack playing the part of the alarmist. The alternative might be someone who is actually capable.

    -Gabe out


    The salient point is this; whatever happens to Jack someone else will step up to take his place. The Center for the Media and Family, perhaps, or some other group. It really doesn't matter. What does matter is that those people will be unlikely to make the same mistakes Jack did.

    What this means for gamers (and all friends of sanity and free speech) is that the fight hasn't ended with Jack, or with the Parents Television Council, or anyone else. This was a battle, not the war. As groups such as the ACLU [aclu.org] and the EFF [eff.org] have shown the fight for free speech is purpetual.

    This isn't a doom and gloom thing. This is a long-term point. The way to protect our freedoms is to a) be vigilant and b) be organized. We can't watch Jack dry up and blow away and then go back to sleep thinking everything is hunky dory. Indeed Jack was probably doing more harm for his side than good. We have to be organized, by supporting the existing groups, forming our own, reading the news, and having our reps on speed-dial so that when someone serious comes to the table they face serious opposition.

    In my opinion Jack's 15 minutes of fame is almost over. But that doesn't mean the threat has passed.
  • From what I've been reading, the contact information in the WHOIS record is no longer valid for him, because neither his email address nor his cell phone number work any more.

    Gee, I hope he fixes that soon. I'd hate for someone malicious to fill out a WHOIS Data Problem Report [internic.net] and get his domain revoked. That would be mean and sucky.
  • As others have pointed out, the article doesn't state that he is under investigation, only that the complaints were forwarded to the disciplinary committee.

    Remember this as well, the FBA (as well as all other bar associations), are associations of lawyers. By lawyers, for lawyers. They're not going to disbar Jack unless they find egregious unethical behaviour, and I just don't think there is enough of that in this case.

    All the actors in this situation need to be very careful that they do not sink to Jack'

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