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Jack Thompson Spams Utah Senate, May Face Legal Action
eldavojohn writes "Yesterday, GamePolitics ran an interesting story about the Utah Senate President threatening Jack Thompson with the CAN-SPAM Act. You might recall Utah being Jack's last hope and hold-out after being disbarred in Florida and more or less made a mockery everywhere else. Well, from Utah's Senate Site, we get the picture of what Jack is up to now: spamming his last friends on the planet. The Salt Lake Tribune is reporting on Senate President Michael Waddoups' statements: 'I asked you before to remove me from your mailing list. 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.' The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Waddoups confirmed on Tuesday that he would attempt to pursue legal action under the federal CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 against Jack Thompson."
We used to think that Thompson was lower than a spammer, but we're not so sure nowadays...
Per subject: it's guys like Jack Thompson who give lawyers a bad name.
He has lost his mission, he has lost his friends, and what does he do---piss away the last he had.
Truly this is the time to quote Leia: the more you tighten your grip, the more systems will slip through your fingers.
Soon, all Jack will have left is an empty clenched fist, which he will be free to wave at anyone passing by his soap box.
May it be put on a deserted island.
Now, let's all play a game with tits and guns! :D
This is just more proof that Jack Thompson, much like Steve Balmer, was put on this earth to be an infinite source of entertainment. As long as people like Jack try to attack violent video games and remove them from the shelves, they will never succeed. His tactics of idiocy and harassment don't seem to work.
I wonder if anybody has ever pointed him to /. and everybody who hates him...
Posts not to be taken literally. Almost everything is sarcasm.
Why couldn't he have given us some warning before doing that?
Now we have to arrange for confetti and parade floats and marching bands all on short notice!
Does he have any idea how hard it is to get a 500ft Master Chief balloon in just a couple days?
Technoli
You know, not *everything* written about Jack Thompson is true. A while back I went to the trouble of tracking down his email address to quiz him over some outrageous comment.
I was somewhat surprised, but more disappointed to receive a civil and level-headed response.
Spam is commercial email. This is email about a pending legislative action, and thus Jack Thompson has the right to send it because he has a right to free speech.
But all that means is that the CAN-SPAM act isn't the appropriate law to attack him with: instead, the Senator should just go for plain-old harassment.
Besides, there's nothing that says the Senator has to listen to him -- that's what filters are for! Let Jack Thompson write to /dev/null to his heart's content.
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
Not long after being disbarred, Ol' Jack spammed the entire membership of the Florida Bar (all Florida lawyers) asking for personal stories about how other members have been "unfairly" targeted by the Florida Bar. I presume he wanted to start some sort of class action suit, but I haven't heard anything further about it.
If you flood someone with spam, they may turn against you, even if they were on your side originally.
In other words, way to shoot your own foot.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
If I understand this correctly, Thompson was petitioning elected representatives for a particular change in law. No matter how annoying his tactics or the fact that he was asked to stop, I have to believe that any prosecution of him for these actions would be thrown out on first amendment grounds. Recall that the first amendment reads as follows (emphasis mine):
Of course, in usual Slashdot fashion, IANAL.
"You call it a new way of thinking; I call it regression to ignorance!" -- Operation Ivy
Well, from Utah's Senate Site, we get the picture of what Jack is up to now: spamming his last friends on the planet.
He still has friends?
Ok, well, I really hate to be on the side of Jack Thompson, but. . .
U.S. Constitution - 1st Amendment:
Simply put, if you are a legislator, you have no right to ask people to not petition you. Jack Thompson was exercising his contitutionally protected right to petition the government for a redress of grievances. There is nothing CAN-SPAM can do about that. Such an application would be clearly unconstitutional.
Now, that said. . . there's such a thing as an email filter that automatically deletes email from certain senders. . .
...to complete GTA3, VC, SA, and GTAIV (with DLC) 100%. Story modes, hidden packages, unique jumps, taxi rides, you name it *.
He can't leave the mental institution they place him in until he beats those games.
*Gameshark or other cheats no allowed
I read it more as most spam comes from random relays over in China which we can't really do anything about, but here is an instance where it's trivially easy to point out exactly who is sending the spam. It gets even easier from a prosecution standpoint because Jack is too simple (read boneheaded) to even consider trying to deny sending the e-mails, rather he's going to try to argue that the e-mails constitute protected speech under the first amendment (oh the irony), and just to dig himself a bit deeper start throwing allegations of corruption, bribery, and conspiracy at anyone who disagrees with him (as if the only way someone might not have exactly the same views as him is if they've been bought by some megacorp).
Curiosity was framed, Ignorance killed the cat.
I believe he was sending automated mailing-list type emails although he was asked to stop. This would be different than constructing multiple emails for a single recipient; furthermore, you are more likely to run into allegations of harassment rather than prosecution by AG using CAN-SPAM. Just like with excessive calling, if such actions become harassing, a restraining order can be awarded.
Trying to install linux on my microwave, but keep getting a kernel panic...
Email has become a victim of its (or is it it's) own success. Now we are moving to invite only systems like IM. What we really need is a replacement electronic messaging platform with some form of "postage". I for one suggest teaming up with Stanford and get folding@home a form of postage. Sender must complete 1 work unit for every message sent to a non-registered recipient (a.k.a 1 WU = 1 unsolicited message.)
In addition the government should provide each citizen an official goverment mailbox for non-critical information [INFO] level messages that are from goverment to citizens. Attached to that mailbox is your current legal residence location for automatic filtering and routing Senator and House member email, never forgetting who your represenatives are!
Anyone wanna help put a demo together?
-=[ Who Is John Galt? ]=-
These tactics remind me of a trick on how to check out other girls with your significant other present: feigned outrage.
"Wow look at her shes wearing almost nothing at all. Will you look at that top? You can almost see right down her shirt. And look at those pants! They are so tight they show everything. Disgusting isn't it?"
The simple fact is, if you don't like something, the natural human tendency is to stop looking at it.
Meanwhile this guy has played enough GTA to find the lap dance clip and went browsing through the adult section of a gay website to find a picture to include in his legal filings?
Truly, there is never a time to quote Leia. Not even on Slashdot. Truly.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
I do assume that a court record describes things that actually happened and you should try reading the record of his disbarrment trial.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
This guy isn't a spammer in the typical sense. He's a hack 'lawyer' that's been permanently disbarred in Florida for false statements, disparaging remarks, and humiliating litigants.
He's tried to get music banned due to explicit content, violent video games banned because they incite violence, video games declared as pornography, etc., etc., etc. You know they type. More concerned about everyone else's business rather than minding his own.
He's essentially wants to ensure that everyone else lives to his own moral standards regardless of their beliefs or how they want to raise their children.
He's just a big born-again right wing religious wack job for lack of a better term. This latest spam suit is just his latest 'label' among many.
Hi Jack! Nice of you to join us!
This guy isn't a spammer in the typical sense. He's a hack 'lawyer' that's been permanently disbarred in Florida for false statements, disparaging remarks, and humiliating litigants.
It was funny, right after being disbarred he sent a long, impassioned letter to all of the rest of us in the Florida Bar asking us to rally around him. I always wondered if anyone did.
But the "widely accepted definition" isn't the one that's relevant to this discussion. The Senator threatened to invoke the CAN-SPAM Act, which means that definition is the relevant one.
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
It's not surprising when a pig gets dirty. He's just found a new way to do it is all. I wouldn't be surprised if he started cold calling people on their cell phones next, or sending unsolicited faxes.
The guy has absolutely no clue when it comes to tech issues. None. This whole spam thing is yet another demonstration of that.
Nothing he does is really surprising.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
Jack Thomson is actually a hardcore gamer.
::shudder::
Think about it. He's arguably done more to marginalize the anti-videogame movement than anyone else in history. His over-the-top, histrionic antics absolutely destroy any credibility his arguments might have.
I never understood why gamers cheered for his downfall. Imagine if there was someone competent in his place?
These tactics remind me of a trick on how to check out other girls with your significant other present: feigned outrage.
"Wow look at her shes wearing almost nothing at all. Will you look at that top? You can almost see right down her shirt. And look at those pants! They are so tight they show everything. Disgusting isn't it?"
And that actually worked for you? No offense, but you need to find smarter women to date.
"Educate the mind but never at the expense of the soul."~Blessed Basil Moreau
You can't overdo it, and you have to tailor your approach to the woman your dealing with. My previous girlfriend responded quite well to me making snide comments about other women, but she would have seen right through feigned outrage.
My current girlfriend is bi. That's a much better solution to the problem.
For those who don't get it: the set of integers isn't larger than the set of natural numbers. You can define a mapping function which creates a 1:1 mapping between the set of all natural numbers and the set of all integers. (f(x) = x/2 for all even (x), f(x) = -((x-1)/2) for all odd x). Since there's a 1:1 relationship between the elements of the two sets which covers all the elements of both sets, the sets are the same size.
By way of contrast, the set of all real numbers is larger than the set of natural numbers. You can't map the set of natural numbers onto the set of real numbers because the set has both infinitely large range and infinitely small granularity. Both sets are infinite, but one's bigger than the other.
Bow-ties are cool.
Don't confuse the "right wing" with the religious nutjobs. They are control freaks, whereas most of us in the right wing don't care if you smoke marijuana while watching tv, have orgies in your bedroom, or worship pagan gods.
We believe in small government and lots of individual liberty.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall