Jack Thompson Faces SPAM Charges
Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: Jack, Thompson, SPAM, Charges
Disbarred Florida attorney Jack Thompson refuses to leave the limelight, now e-mailing sites that Utah State Senate President Michael Waddoups is threatening to have him prosecuted for sending... take a guess... e-mails.
It actually seems rather comical that Jack Thompson is sending out e-mails complaining of a possible CAN-SPAM Act prosecution related to e-mails he sent on Easter Sunday. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, the e-mail contained an image of two virtual women, clad in nothing but string bikinis, getting ready to perform an erotic lap dance to a Grand Theft Auto IV character. The image is part of Jack Thompson's campaign to convince Utah politicians in overriding the veto of a video game bill (HB353) making M-rated games virtually illegal to sell to minors. The e-mail apparently also attacked Utah Attorney General Mark Shurteff, saying that the Attorney General. was ignoring the sale of "pornography" to minors.
Unfortunately, the Utah State Senate President didn't welcome the email, especially on Easter. "I asked you before to remove me from your mailing list," Waddoups eventually wrote Thompson days later. "I supported your bill but because of the harassment will not again. If I am not removed, I will turn you over to the AG for legal action." Originally, Waddoups presided over the Utah Senate as it passed Thompson's video game bill last month; Governor Jon Huntsman ultimately vetoed the bill. However, there's a good reason why Waddoups reacted negatively to Thompson's email.
According to The Senate Site, there was an exchange of emails prior to the one where Waddoups threatened legal action (all e-mails are in one PDF here). After Thompson sent over the GTA IV image on Easter Sunday, Waddoups asked to be removed from the recipient list. Thompson replied, asking if the Senate President looked at the materials surrounding the campaign. "Yes, I read them all and I got the picture," Waddoups replied. "No more please."
The video game bill spam didn't stop. In fact, a few days went by. Waddoups, apparently weary from the onslaught, sent over his third request, threatening to turn Thompson over to the Attorney General as mentioned above. However, Jack Thompson didn't stop after receiving Waddoups' response. Instead, he made the bold move of re-sending the lap dance image and Waddoups' reply to the entire Utah legislature with the following attached note:
If you are offended by seeing this, as was Senate President Waddoups, then know that you should be more offended by the fact that Utah kids can buy the game in which there are repeated sexual encounters like this...
You will apparently read in the Salt Lake Tribune tomorrow morning that Senator Waddoups has now threatened me with criminal prosecution by Mark Shurtleff for sending him “porn.”... Mr. Waddoups now threatens me for alerting him to this... I look forward to my criminal prosecution in Utah...
According to the paper, Waddoups is in fact pursuing legal action under the federal CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. The law, which carries a punishment of up to $11,000 in fines, covers "e-mail whose primary purpose is advertising or promoting a commercial product or service" as defined by the Federal Trade Commission. In retaliation, yesterday Thompson issued a press release, defending his position and announcing that the Utah State Senator "threatens anti-video game activist with criminal prosecution for writing him." The press release claims that Waddoups is apparently unaware that the first Amendment to the United States Constitution "absolutely guarantees" the rights of citizens "to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
"In the grip of such legislative ignorance, Mr. Waddoups has today threatened Mr. Thompson with criminal prosecution by Utah's Attorney General for writing him, the ultimate purpose of which is to encourage Utah legislature to override Gov. Huntsman bizarre veto," reads Thompson's press release. "Thompson also informed Sen. Waddoups that the same Attorney General he wants to have prosecute Thompson has received thousands of dollars from the video game industry whom Mr. Shurtleff now helps protect. Gov. Huntsman has received their money as well. What a surprise. This is pay to play in Utah. Maybe the whistle blowing as to this is what concerns Mr. Waddoups the most."
Despite his views on gaming--whether they're right or not--Thompson's press release offers up an interesting picture of what may or may not be going on in Utah regarding to the bill. Ultimately, he's accusing the gaming industry of paying off government officials, and that Waddoups' legal actions are nothing more than a smokescreen concealing the real truth. Government conspiracies and corrupt politicians always generate a great backdrop in a story, however, as Jack Thompson tends act flamboyantly, his overdramatic plea may be just that: an overdramatic plea to make his point.
"As disturbing as the image is, it's something an adult ought to be able to handle looking at," Thompson said, referring to the offending e-mail. "There are two women who are clad and a guy's looking at them. I would love to be being tried criminally for writing a state senator an e-mail with something he thinks is pornographic but who is not offended by the fact that children can buy this."
As always, stay tuned for more Jack Thompson drama as it unfolds.
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Oh dear...wouldn't it be a shame if he got fined out of his skull or sent to a loony bin? Shame (!)
First Gov. Blagojevich and now this ... Why do all of these politicians have the mindset of a 5 year old?
lol this idiot just wont go away. at this point i dont even care if he does or doesnt because no one (including legitimate lawyers and politicians) takes him seriously anyway. so keep plugging away Jackie boy. you make for good fodder on a slow news day.
Get a life Mr. Thompson. It's not like kids are jacking off to GTA.
Good goin Mr.Parrish, no double headers this time..... Keep it up man.
You have it in you, I always knew.
Perhaps Jack simply doesn't realize hes in America. Perhaps we should give him a one way ticket to Saudi Arabia where censorship and opressionruns ramped and outweigh all civil rights.
Hasn't he been disbarred already?
My dad and Jack can be BFF they have so much in common and I hate them both.
Hasn't he been disbarred already?
Just because he's been disbarred from practicing law doesn't mean he can't send annoying, unsolicited emails about his position on the topic. It just beans he's not allowed to act as legal council for anybody in the court of law.
...opression runs ramped...
I do hope you mean "oppression" runs "rampant". I must say, it would be quite a feat if oppression could physically manifest itself and run on an inclined plane indefinitely.
All that aside, I think it's time somebody filed for legal action against Jackie boy here for spamming the legal system. How fitting that he should resurrect his spamming of the legal system as spamming the political system with useless crap such as this. Does he not realize that it technically is illegal to sell M-rated games to teens? Even if not really illegal, it's against most stores' policies to do so. Worse yet, it is more common for parents to be the ones who bought it for their kids while blatantly ignoring the ratings system that is in place for the same reason as "R" and "PG-13" ratings for movies.
Ah nice to see the ol crackpot is still out there digging his hole deeper...
Thompson won't stop, because he can't. He simply isn't right in the head, and doesn't know how to keep himself from bein' all crazy at people.
I'm actually torn between being amused and feeling sorry for the guy. Dude has issues.
Here's an email exchange I had with him, he never responded to my second message.....
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Hess"
To:
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2005 11:56 PM
Subject: I have a comment about Grand Theft Auto. Nothing bad, just a comment.
I install wireless and dsl internet for families in the state of
Wyoming, and I pretty much mean the whole state, barely over a half
million people in the state.
I personally love video games, I owned the first Nintento in my town
in '86. I play violent ones and simple puzzle ones. My friends and I
love playing a game of Grand Theft Auto at parties and such. It's a
great release from everyday life. In no way would we consider carrying out anything we see, it's wrong and we were raised well enough to know it.
Now, why did I tell you I install Internet?
I have been in literally hundreds of homes and seen a very large
portion of those homes with kids under 16 playing these games.
Contrary to what you and others seem to think, this is the fault of
the parent, not the gaming or movie industries. Not once have I seen a parent say "Wow, that game's bad, stop playing it guys!" How many
underage kids play with dildos and watch XXX pornos? That's right, not many because parents know better than to let them (and having been a kid, I know the excuse "well they can't get their hands on that stuff" is all but useless). Seems to me we as a country need to stop wasting money on litigation and wasted resources over these issues, and educate the PARENTS. I must say, when my 3 year old starts trying to play these games, he will not be allowed to at my house, or anyone elses, until he's 15 or 16 and knows the difference between right and wrong.
Thanks for your time,
Michael Hess
-----Original Message-----
From: Jack Thompson [mailto:jackpeace@comcast.net]
Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2005 3:33 AM
To: Michael Hess
Subject: Re: I have a comment about Grand Theft Auto. Nothing bad, just a comment.
Why the Hell do you think I'm trying to get the message out about the games?
My Response:
That's cool, getting the message out, but why attack the companies and industries involved? Granted they should do their part about rating the games properly, which I believe they do, but law suites against these companies is only hurting us, it makes complacent parents think the government will simply ban this stuff so they don't have to do anything. It feeds the problem.
Thanks for the response by the way, I expected a generic automated answer, good to know someone listens!
And then silence.....What an ass.
Can't........ process..........irony...........
General Protection Fault
x_x
Next time you do your april 1st shootout, make thompson hold the damn chips!
Since he is a politician i didn't think he could technically request his removal off email listings.. He must listen to the people doesn't he? If he can have him prosecuted can't he have any person that gets on his nerves about something he doesn't like politically prosecuted as well as long as they send an email..? Don't get me wrong though.. personally anti-video game activist bother the hell out of me..
In his defense, though, why couldn't Waddoups put Thompson's email in his blocked senders list?
(rant) And why the heck can't Tom fix all the technical problems on his website before putting more stupid advertisements on the front page? Ever since the new comment system was put in place I've had difficulty I have trouble logging in, problems with the cursor disappearing and browser lockups intermittently, regardless of what browser I use, and the problems are getting worse and worse. Safari, Chrome, Firefox--they all have the same problems. Strangely, IE8 seems to have problems the least frequently, and compatibility mode does not fix any of them. It's not my computer--I use several of them and it doesn't seem to make a difference. Ugh...sorry for the off topicedness it's just so dang frustrating I've been trying to post for several minutes on this thread and that stupid Poweredge advertisement that pops up instead of the home page got on my last nerve.(/rant)
I think Thompson is an idiot and don't understand his obsession with videogames. But, he is a citizen of the U.S. and I do think he has the right to state his case as much as he wants to our political representatives. Is he overdoing it? Probably, but I think he has the right to do so. How many people are "spamming" the inboxes of our representatives right now about the internet caps?
I'm actually torn between being amused and feeling sorry for the guy. Dude has issues.
That sums him up for me at this point. This guy has got some serious holes in his personality that he's desperately trying to fill.
There really are two issues here. First is how much unwanted contact with a government official is permissible. It sounds like Jackie had many chances to get his voice heard. The unwanted graphical content is what the senator no longer wanted emailed to him. In all fairness, talking about the issues and being an annoying jerk are two different things. What concerns me about being able to spam a government official is it allows a minority to force "morality laws" upon the majority. It is not the government's job to raise your kids and wipe your butt.
The second issue is whether or not the government should have to police every aspect of everyone's life to make sure everyone is held to the same moral standards. Every additional oversight in people's lives removes some freedom. How much freedom do we currently have as compared to what the founders intended with the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights?
*wonders how long before someone else says "THE US IS COMING DOWN THE PAN! NOOOOOOOOO"*
If a kid wants to buy an M rated game that is for the parents to decide not the government. It's communistic for the government to hold poeple to the same moral standards based on what they think is right. This is America... not North Korea.
GTA should be a mandatory play for all kids ages 10 and under.
GTA should be a mandatory play for all kids ages 10 and under.
+1
Uhm ya I am 17 but I didn't need to play video games or internet to ever see explicit things. I saw some good stuff every once in a while ever since like I can remember. I probably know like 1 person my age that hasn't. Banning M games would just piss me off and not prevent me from seeing anything I haven't already.
If a kid wants to buy an M rated game that is for the parents to decide not the government. It's communistic for the government to hold poeple to the same moral standards based on what they think is right. This is America... not North Korea.
That's not what communism means.
As I see it unless Jack moved to Utah and is now a citizen there (Please oh please say he left my state!) I believe Waddoups may be able to just say no to Jack. Because Waddoups is not his representitve and therefore Jack is just another lobbyist from outside the state. Now in my opinion the real question is can the SPAM act be streched to fit this situation.
GTA should be a mandatory play for all kids ages 10 and under.
Amen.
Get a life Mr. Thompson. It's not like kids are jacking off to GTA.
Yeah. Adults are instead. >_>