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Jack Thompson vs Amazon?
Zorglub writes "Feeling his book page at Amazon has been harassed by bad reviews, nasty tags, and a user-submitted vomit pic, anti-game lawyer Jack Thompson threatens to sue Amazon if the offending material isn't removed."
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1414304420/103-17 36564-3760662?v=glance&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v =glance
"Religion is the most malevolent of all mind viruses." - Arthur C. Clarke.
Isn't all publicity good publicity? At least there's interest in his book. ;-))
I'm sure Amazon & their team of lawyers has covered their backs. Shouldn't he be suing the people who posted the comments? But then he couldn't milk a mulit-million dollar cash cow then, could he?
Unity in Diversity
Does Amazon even own the comments? Like Slashdot, they probably have a disclaimer. Even then, isn't it considered free speech?
This guy is obviously an attention whore, so why indulge him?
The list is amusing, heres the few on the page:
First tag: lies (6mullet on Nov 17, 2005)
Last tag: Propaganda
Lies (7),Propaganda (5),Childish Name Calling (4),Unfounded assertions (4),Slander (4),Unscientific (4),Defamation (3),Self-promoting with fake reviews (3),Biased (3),lies (3),Racist (2),Scaremonger (2),toilet-paper (2),Money grabbing lawyer (2),Ambulance Chaser (2)
The amazon page listing them is here.
liqbase
Short of slander, whatever nasty stuff someone says about you in a situation like that is fair game. If he doesn't like the attention, maybe he should shut the fuck up and stop making an ass out of himself publically.
Word is Amazon has just patented a mechanism for being sued by insane book authors.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
1. Jerk writes book.
2. People who hate the jerk play underhanded amazon tricks to sabotage book on Amazon.com
3. Jerk complains to amazon that such tricks are clearly against amazon's rules and asks amazon to remove the offending material, which amazon does poorly or incompletently.
I expected the mesasgeboards there to be filled with "I disagree with what Jerk says, but I respect his right to say it in a fair way", instead it is full of Vigilante Logic such as pointing to Jerk's supposed jerk activities in a vein of "two wrongs make a right" logic criticizing the guy for asking for amazon to play by its own rules.
Sad.
Perhaps someone else has a sense of humor, but there were these three links to "Listmania!" below this book... all three were to how-to books for gay men. One was about handballing...
-- Who is the bigger fool? The fool or the fool who follows him? --
Freedom is speech only applies to the government.
For example: Bush says we can't say "Bush sucks".
That would be illegal on his part.
However, I can tell you that you can't say anything bad about my website or I will sue you.
I can sue you.
Now, whether or not I will win is arguable and all depends on if you are telling the truth or not (libel, right? or is libel spoken? bah humbug).
Anways, you get the point.
Welcome to America. Anyone can sue anyone -- but they aren't gurranteed to win. In US the squeeky wheel concept applies.
"Do or do not. There is no try." -- Master Yoda (Half man, half muppet)
Now this was about 4 years ago, maybe they've changed since then, but we've found amazon to be pro-author.
I don't agree with Jack Thompson but I do not see a problem with him expressing his point of view in our culture of ideas. Posting a very gross picture of a kid vomiting and an absurd cartoon does the anti-Thompson no good. Winning a debate does not occur when call someone a "poopyhead" enough times. Though I don't know if Thompson will win this sort of case, but if I found my product page defased in such a manner, I might do the same thing if Amazon were unwilling to remove these sort of items when requested. It hurts Amazon as much as Thompson to have vomit pictures on their website.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
First I must agree with every rational person posting here that this guy is an idiot, and has no right to sue Amazon. So to him I say, fuck you! Sue Slashdot now :P
/ 1647245&tid=105)
But as we're on the subject of the supposed negative influence of games, I must post something original about Child's Play, a charity that provides games to children stuck in hospital. (previous Slashdot coverage http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/08
To quote founders Gabe and Tycho (pennyarcade.com)
"For two years now we've set up and organized a charity called Child's Play. We set it up because we were angry the media decided to blame all the world's problems on games and gamers. Basically they said that gamers were bad people, and we thought that wasn't right. Apparently, you guys agreed: through Child's Play you sent nearly a million dollars in toys, games, and cash to the sick kids in Children's Hospitals around the nation."
So at some good (he'd disagree) did actually come indirectly from this guy voicing his wrong opinion. Argh, he makes me angry. Now excuse so I can kill some stuff in HL2.
just wait until the slashdot crowd gets finished writing their reviews.
Meh.
The more Jack Thompson opens his mouth, the more of a joke he becomes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Thompson
http://www.google.com/search?q="jack+thompson" blowhard
Here's an e-mail exchange between Jacko and a 14 yr. old boy.
http://croqaudile.com/?article_id=10299
The original e-mail is long, but if you keep reading you'll see how quickly Thompson's replies devolve into complete and utter asshattery.
Loud doesn't = right
lemme say that again for Jack's benefit
LOUD DOESN'T = RIGHT
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
If you look under the pic of the cover, there are two extra "customer images" attached.
NOTE: I'm not sure how the first pic slipped by Amazon,
but don't click it if you're squeamish
From W. Jones "bookreviewer" (Clemson, SC USA)
This was my immediate reaction after reading Thompson's Book.
From Neil J. Miotto "Sponge-lueshi" (Menlo Park, CA, USA)
More images of JT.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Someone should write a book about how lawyers are a bad influence on our children.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Seriously, lawyers should be treated like lepers - required to scream out a warning to anyone they come in contact with for any reason. "Lawyer, outcast, unclean! Beware lest I sue ye". Amazon attempted to treat this scum like a rational human being and he will use those efforts against them.
[Set Cain on fire and steal his lute.]
Amazon.com Legal Dept.
Amazon.com HQ
November 20, 2005
Jack Thompson
Dear Sir:
Per your request we have instructed our client to remove all of the materials you reqested. Please accept our sincerest apologies. To ensure that such an unfortunate incident does not occur, we have also instructed them to remove this book from their catalog. Furthermore, we are recommending they remove all works authored, co-authored, edited, forwarded, or otherwise contributed to by you.
Again, we regret these unfortunate events and we trust that you will see that we are serious about making sure that nobody ever makes another negative comment about any of your works on Amazon.com in the future.
Sincerely,
The Amazon.com Legal Team
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
"If you like murdering little puppies than you will love this book! Ax murderers and serial killers alike will take ques from this wonderfully deragned book. Enjoy the life and times of this anti-bill-of-rights author that showers his reader with psycopathic rhetoric. A must read if you plan on being a dictator or child abuser."
"To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
Or maybe 45 people found his book so offensive/ignorant/etc that they got off their lazy order-books-off-the-internet duffs and wrote what they think.
A general rule of thumb is that: for every complaint you see or hear, at least 10 other people didn't bother to complain.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
First: yes, I really did read the book.
I decided to give this book a go after hearing that Thompson was actually suing Amazon over the reviews left here. Considering I already loathe Thompson for his consistent lies and self-serving press releases, and considering said lies and releases have him in ethical trouble, I was going in prejudiced. I really don't think that made a difference. The book is as rambling and nonsensical as many of Thompson's own statements. When obvious counterpoints to his zealous, frothing-at-the-mouth rage exist, he ignores them entirely (in the real world, he threatens legal action after committing slander. Gee, sounds familiar.)
Read this book over the hype, if you want. Yes, it will give Thompson some more money, and that's what he wants. It's worth it, though, because it exposes just how...well...insane he really is.
ACs are modded -6. I don't read you, I don't mod you, I don't see you. Don't like it? Don't be a coward.
The right to freedom of speech does not mean that you are allowed to say anything you want. It means that the government cannot try to stop you from saying whatever you want. This is meant to protect us from the government going the way of many others and trying to suppress people's beliefs. This does not protect you in such a way that you are allowed to tell other people to go fuck themselves, or to say things that ruin a person's character or reputation. You are still held liable for what you say, which is why you can be sued for slander, and other such offenses.
It might be freedom of speech, but a lot of the comments on Amazon aren't book reviews.
Freedom of Speech: Jack Thompson = Asshole
Book Review: The author of Out of Harm's Way, Jack Thompson, comes off as an asshole in his book.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Which is the strange thing. We are getting very worked up over him. What happens when somebody posts something inflammatory, trollish or vulgar here on Slashdot? We just ignore it and get on with our lives. However, it seems to me that this usually stable mindset goes right out of the window when it comes to Mr Thompson, and he's been feeding the furnace of publicity with all the hate emails, comments, and other statements made by the people who can't just see this guy for the common (albeit rich and infamous) troll he is.
I've even seen this behaviour normally level-headed people like Tim Buckley (who made a quite threatening message in comic form here, I'm sure that if Thompson had heard of it he'd be splattering it everywhere). He says (in essence) that he's got his right to do it if he wants (and yes he does), just like Jack Thompson can argue against video games, but I really don't know how this is going to shift him from the screen at all.
In any case, I don't suppose he'll be here any longer than New Year's, unless something spectacular happens (maybe something like the Whitehouse being invaded by people dressed up like Unreal Tournament bots - it's Real Tournament now, mofo!).
To prevent this day from getting worse, I'll just read ERROR as GOOD TH
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Kind of weird to search for a book of this nature and have it tied to a bunch of books on sex nd gay sex...
Nom de dieu de putain de bordel de merde de saloperie de connard d encule de ta mere.
This is a very interesting post on this guy, how a 14 year old properly rebutted all he has been bs'ing about. This 14 year old is not me... just posting what he put here because i find it interesting...
I wrote:
I found a link to your site, www.stopkill.com, through an online forum. I looked over it, and although I think that there is some genuine concern over the effect of violent media on kids, many of your statements on that site were made in ignorance. What I plan to do in this email is to help you gain a better understanding of video games, and to show you that while your intentions are good, your current course of action is a mistake. I'm going to present my arguments calmly and logically, and you're welcome to write a rebuttal if you wish. First off, let me tell you a little about myself. I'm 14, and I've been playing video games avidly since I was 8. I'm pretty knowledgeable about the subject of video games as a whole, and I've played my fair share of Halo 2 and other shooters, including the Ghost Recon series, which is regarded as one of the most realistic FPSs (first-person shooters, in case you aren't familiar with the terminology). I also enjoy strategy games, in which the death toll is often far higher than what you'd encounter in a FPS. I'm an archer, a martial artist (Tae Kwon Do), and I was taught how to operate a gun by my grandfather, who's an experienced hunter. And, oddly enough, I've never felt the urge to kill, or even seriously injure, anyone. I imagine that killing in self-defence would be extremely difficult for me, despite my alleged desensitization. Now I'd like to dismiss a misonception (I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt and not assuming that you're twisting the truth) you have about games like Halo, which are called FPSs. These are not "sniper games." They are games presented in first person, in which you shoot enemies, manage ammunition, and explore levels. You may fail to see the distinction between "sniper" and "first person" based on that description alone, but if you ever take the time to play any of these games, you'll understand that there is no comparison between playing a FPS and operating a rifle. Which brings me to my next point- games can't accurately "train" you to commit violent acts, despite your claims. First off, games are innacurate by their very nature, and they give you less practical knowledge on operating firearms than watching a few hours of History Channel would. Secondly, I'm going to walk you through a typical scenario of me playing Halo 2, which is probably the best FPS available right now1) I rotate the right control stick slightly, then hold down the right trigger. There is no violent intent towards my enemy, wether it's an AI-controlled bot or a human opponent I'm facing online- it's a simple challenge in the case of the former and a friendly competition in the case of the latter.(2) On screen, a series of polygons which emulate bullet trails appear. Those polygons collide with the polygons rendered to represent my enemy, and those same polygons then emulate my opponent dying.The important distinction here is that there is no gun, no bullets, and no enemy. There is a rotation of the control stick and a pull of the controller's trigger, resulting in a change of the onscreen display. Anyone who can't see the difference between this and the act of firing a gun at a human being is clearly unfit to be playing these games and, frankly, is an idiot. Which, once again, leads me to the next point I'm going to make. No one in their right mind would ever do the things that you blame on video games. A quick glance at such actions shows that there are far bigger, far more serious causes than violent media behind them. Now, you may wonder, "Why would someone kill a person in a video game if they think it's wrong to do in real life?" Well, the truth is, no one gets hurt when you kill a video game character. There are corporeal consequences to commiting acts of violence on rea
Nom de dieu de putain de bordel de merde de saloperie de connard d encule de ta mere.
At this point, Amazon has three options:
1) Do nothing and get sued.
2) Remove the offending comments and get a reputation for censorship.
3) Remove the book entirely from the Amazon website and don't sell it anymore.
I guess 3) would be the least painful version, and it would also show Thompson that he cannot do business with Amazon AND tell them how to run their website. Good riddance.
C - the footgun of programming languages
If you believe that the product you are reviewing is unsafe, please report this information to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) http://www.cpsc.gov/incident.html or contact Amazon.com directly at product-safety@amazon.com.
The government needs to be informed that Thompson is unsafe for children ages -3 to 962.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Amazon are refusing to take down the fake ones because they dont explicitly break their rules, and instead pull the ones complaining about the fake reviews.
To make matters worse, when someone adds a 1* review to the self-published book, they copy that negative review to either my book or the o'reilly alternative. So we are getting our ranking pulled down by real reviews written about a different book.
This has been ongoing for months and amazon are doing nothing about it, even though it shows that you can't trust amazon reviews at all. What interested parties can do is go to this page and leave 1* comments to balance off the fake ones.
But what's even worse than the fact that Jack Thompson is flat-out wrong, is the fact that he, and those like him, end up hiding the real issues. Lets take the Columbine shootings as an example. There were plenty of people ready to blame music, tv, and video games for the shootings. Michael Moore examined the absurdity of these claims in Bowling for Columbine by observing that the shooters were bowling the morning of the shooting -- so why not blame bowling? The real issue was that these kids who committed the murders were the target of ongoing emotional torment and bullying from a lot of their classmates. Rather than say, hey wait a second, maybe we have to do something to prevent bullying and to teach kids to respect one another as human beings, Jack and his ilk blame all the wrong things. But then again, it's probably easier for Jack to attack these things than reach a 17-yr old highschool jock and try to get him to actually respect people who don't fit in.
Oh, and yeah, it was just by "searching for" an IMG html tag.
Did you have any luck getting amazon to pull the reviews that mention the Oprah episode where your wife is exposed about lying with regards to being an Ivy League graduate? How do you feel about her lying to sell more books and never recanting on that fact?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I noticed a general trend.
There is an extreme amount of hatred towards Jack Thompson. Having read through some of the correspondence (already listed as links on other posts) it is very clear how this came about.
It is fine to have people of different persuasion or a different ideological bent. If you treat people you disagree with in a courteous & professional manner, they will most often respond in a civil manner.
However, if you take a juvenile approach towards your opponents, belittle them, and insult them, they will respond in kind.
Mr Thompson is only receiving what he has sown.
GG
When Sheryl Crow criticized them in one of her songs, they stopped selling the album.
Amazon should just stop selling his book(s).
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
He decided to go on a legal rampage to promote his new book, thinking that by the time it hit the shelves, the nation would be so full of anti-videogame paranoia and bile that they would buy the book on its position rather than its merits. This has worked for politico authors in the past, so it seemed like a sure shot. Jack's publisher probably supported or even helped him draft his "modest proposal."
Unfortunately, in a classic Thompson mistake, he chose to run his publicity stunt in a way that invited people to respond. The response was overwhelming, and those who opposed Jack's particular flavor of moral outrage were able to make his stunt fall flat while being gracious and generous themselves. In the meantime, the legal actions which might have helped sales of the book were being challenged. The intended political pot stirring barely reached beyond the smaller audience of gamers themselves, for whom the message was a non-starter.
In the end, the book only served to damage Thompson more, because it was beamed toward a highly sympathetic audience. Had he managed to create that audience, the book would have done well. (Imagine if he had stayed on the Alabama case and made it into the OJ Simpson Trial of video games.) As it stands, without wealth of pre-existing sympathy for his ideas, people are looking to the book for some justification of Jack Thompson's crusade - as is reasonable to expect from a 200 page book. They aren't finding that justification, because the book was never intended to have substance of its own. It is a symbolic book. People reading it undecided can only see that Jack is a very angry, egotistical, and unreasonable person.
So let this be a lesson to those who would ride the crest of public outrage to sell themselves - when you wipe out, you wipe out hard.