Thompson receives death threats, Clinton sex pic via e-mail - 18.8.05

We recently received a somewhat bizarre e-mail from Jack Thompson. You might remember him from such adventures as "Who stole little Johnny's Hot Coffee", and "Mommy, what's that fluffy thing underneath my sim's clothes?". Thompson is a lawyer based in Miami, Florida who has been fighting the games industry for nearly twenty years in a war he describes as "the entertainment industry's distribution of adult entertainment to children".

Jack was recently appointed by New York senator and former 1st Lady Hillary Clinton to bring her up to speed with his investigations into the so-called "Hot Coffee" mod for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Hot Coffee is a hidden piece of code in the game that can only be accessed by downloading a hack online. The mod purportedly lets you see sexual intercourse between two fictitious characters in the game (shocking).

As a result of Thompson's actions, and the actions of many politicians, San Andreas was given an "Adults Only" rating and even an outright ban in Australia. It's pretty hard to believe that a game which needs special software to see a naked scene with gaming characters is somehow deemed as a "moral" threat to society.

So in essence, the actions of Thompson and others who think they are representing the will of the community have actually deprived a lot of people of their only form of enjoyment. Now if I was in Jack Thompson's shoes I would certainly not be looking for a pat on the back from the gaming community, who rate San Andreas as one of "better" games to come out on PC this year.

So what does Thompson do when he gets some death-threats via e-mail, he acts surprised? His e-mail to Igniq details over 10,000 hate mails from gamers, some of which threatening his life if he doesn't give up his war on games. One of the e-mails he received included a pic of the Miami lawyer expressing his love for Hillary Clinton, physically (Thank all good and true that pic was never leaked *shudder*).

I have to confess, the most comical part of his e-mail was when he mentioned people he describes as "virtual reality terrorists" contacting hundreds of innocent third-party organizations and businesses telling them, via e-mail, that Jack Thompson wants their products.

and so the dutiful companies respond. I have had hundreds of free United States Postal Service supplies delivered to my office, at taxpayer expense. Just last night I got a call from a Mormon gentleman asking me when he could deliver the forty copies of the Book of Mormon to me at my home. These cyber jerks couldn't care less about bothering this dutiful, religious man.

Stop laughing, it gets better...

Finally, but not exhaustively as there is not enough space here to recount all that these "free speech" advocates have done, I have received dozens of telephone calls from "relay call" services who provide, wonderfully, telephone service to deaf people who can communicate through the relay operator their words by typing on a computer screen. The video gamers have used this service to avoid detection of their identity and in doing so have had dear ladies who are transcribing their words to me repeat incredibly filthy sexual comments intended to harass me. It is these innocent women who are harassed the most, all in the name of "freedom."

I really don't know what to make of this guy. He's funny in small doses it has to be said, this I cannot deny the guy. Although I have to believe a career in comedy is not what the Miami-based attorney had in mind when he started his war on video games.

If you're even remotely interested in hearing anymore from Thompson, why not check out this hour long interview (MP3). You will get a better understanding of what the guy is about after 10 minutes of listening to this shit.

Still unsure as to how you feel about Thompson? I think this line pretty much sums up the guy's attitude:

I am just one victim of the growing terrorist attitude within the
"virtual world" that criticism of the excesses of this technology will
not be abided. Step out of line with our anarchic agenda, and we will
anonymously harass you, threaten to kill you, all in the name of
"freedom of speech."

Virtual Extortion by Jack Thompson

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