aphexplotz

Jack Thompson, a Florida lawyer who became infamous in 1988 for accusing Janet Reno of being a closeted lesbian with a drinking problem and a strong candidate for blackmail, has recently been making waves with his crusade against the video game industry. Earlier this year, he launched a wrongful death lawsuit against Take Two Interactive and Rockstar Games, makers of the Grand Theft Auto series, claiming that the video game was directly responsible for 18 year-old Devin Moore's shooting of three police officers in 2003.

Jack recently appeared on CBS's 60 Minutes trying to drum up support for his efforts. However, this publicity was apparently not satisfying enough for him, as he went on to try and create more outrage on his own. Attempting to emulate Jonathan Swift, he issued a "Modest Proposal" that offered a US$10,000 reward to anyone who would create a video game featuring Osaki Kim, a father whose son was beaten to death with a baseball bat by a 14-year-old gamer. The game would feature Kim extracting brutal revenge on the video game industry itself, including beating game company executives to death, removing their heads and urinating on their brain stems.

What Jack did not expect was that the enterprising PC gaming mod community would turn around and make this mod a reality. Jack then reneged on his promise of a US$10,000 donation to the charity of the modder's choice, saying that his original bounty had been "satire", and therefore not a legitimate promise.

This is where Penny Arcade, the popular video game-themed online comic strip, entered the story. One of the co-creators of the strip, Mike "Gabe" Krahulik, emailed Jack Thompson and informed him that he thought his proposed US$10,000 charitable donation was pretty small in light of Penny Arcade's more than half a million dollars, raised as part of their "Child's Play" charity event. Unfortunately for Gabe, his email contained his phone number as part of the signature, and Jack took advantage of this to phone him directly. The phone call included a threat of a lawsuit if Gabe emailed him again. In response, Gabe sent a check to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) in the amount of US$10,000 with the note "For Jack Thompson Because Jack Thompson Won't" on the bottom.

The threats then escalated. Jack then faxed a letter to the Seattle Police Department claiming that Penny Arcade was "criminally harassing" him, and urging the arrest of "this little extortion factory".

At this point, the nerds swung into action. Penny Arcade forum members wrote, edited and sent letters and faxes to the Florida Bar Association detailing Thompson's activities and urging the review of his license to practice law. Jack Thompson has already received a reprimand by the FBA for his antics in 1998, and according to a spokesperson, the letters and faxes have been received and forwarded to the disciplinary committee.

Already, other activists against video game violence are starting to distance themselves from Jack Thompson. Earlier this month, the National Institute on Media and the Family wrote a letter to Jack, asking him to remove the link to their organization from his web site. While Mr. Thompson's fifteen minutes of fame may be waning, the issue of violence in video games remains a hot topic.

Jack was on CNN tonight to talk about Midways new football game. Like I said in my news post above , this is why Jack is scary. Because he has no fucking clue what hes talking about yet they put him on CNN to talk as though he was an expert. This is a quote from him:

"The NFL wouldn't allow it's name to be used, so that tells you something."

He doesnt understand that EA purchased the rights to NFL games and that Midways new game is a direct response to that. Like I said before the time for ignoring this coot is over. He cant be allowed to pull this kind of shit anymore.

-Gabe out

The forum posters on Penny Arcade decided that Jack Thompsons recent antics were enough cause to file a complaint with the Florida Bar (which, contrary to their protestations, I suspect are quite used to this sort of thing with him).

Jacks response? Threaten to sue the Florida Bar! No, really. Thompsons post archived below the cut, because its original home (the PA forums) are melting from overload.

John B. Thompson, Attorney at Law
*Edit for net safety*

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 industrys 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 Bars insurance carrier had to pay me money damages for The Bars 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 Readers Digest that they cant 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 Romes 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 dont 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 partys 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. Heres 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 Penny Arcade site how they were going to do it.

Penny Arcade put out a news story that was wholly false, and the purpose of it, of course, was to generate the sort of Internet-based gamers harassment of me that has caused me to coin the useful phrase pixelante. Blank Rome is just a highly-paid pixelante. I was not getting this harassment at my new e-mail address until Penny Arcade did this.

The result of Penny Arcades intentional targeting of me is that I almost immediately started receiving emailed and phoned death threats, many of them referencing Penny Arcade. Penny Arcade has every right to express their warped bizarre opinions, but they dont have the right to use the Internet to orchestrate criminal harassment of me, which is precisely what they did.

I asked to speak with their attorney, which I did yesterday, and this guy is a perfect fit with Penny Arcade, because his position is that this is all my fault.

I have written the Police Chief in Seattle and asked that their department investigate this matter, as I believe this constitutes a criminal act by Penny Arcade. Penny Arcade has thus ramped up the harassment, and now there is a campaign among gamers to go to The Florida Bar to discipline me for trying to protect myself and my family, as well as my right, under the First Amendment to try to get the video game industry to start acting like something other than a bunch of sociopaths.

I was on CNNs Anderson Cooper 360 two nights ago because there is now a new game out in which pro footballers send prostitutes to the other teams players hotel rooms. Quaint stuff. I think I have a right to complain about that, which CNN wanted me to do when they contacted me. Anderson Cooper was more negative about it than I was. I am making progress.

But I especially appreciated the computer-generated call last night that said We are coming to get you, Mr. Thompson. This is from the Penny Arcade faithful. That is precisely what Penny Arcade wanted, and I have received similar computer-generated calls threatening me.

I am quite certain that lawyer Daniel Horowitz would advise me to take such threats seriously, arent you?

Several weeks ago some gamer idiot (sorry to be redundant) managed to email me thousands of death threats from a blast e-mail service based in Ireland using the following e-mail address: georgewbush@whitehouse.gov. The Secret Service shut that pixelante right down. Its probably too much to expect the Secret Service to shut Blank Rome down. Thats a joke, by the way.

Now, let me be clear. 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.

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.

Regards, Jack Thompson