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"Don't try to spin me, sir! This is the no-spin zone."
Apr. 27th, 2006
09:13 pm - Admitting to harassment? Wow, that's a first...
We already covered JT's lovely transgressions of LiveJournal's Terms of Service, and how his arguments about freedom of speech don't apply here. And how he has obviously gotten around their rather useless IP ban (his son could figure it out, it's not hard).
But this is a first, he's actually admitted to ban-evasion, also against LJ's ToS:
Dear God, TWO accounts in one day? Dont you ever give up?
JT: No four, actually. By the way, if Dennis McCauley has banned me, how come I can stil post here? Duh.
Dennis can only ban individual accounts, he can't ban IPs, and LJ only bans one IP at a time, and the complaint process starts all over again. Basically JT's abusing LJ's slow enforcement policies to spam GamePolitics. Dennis has two choices, either ban the accounts as they appear (and after JT spams the forums), or force everyone to be approved as his "friend" before they can post, a hassle that would inconvenience regular posters, and Dennis himself.
Congrats JT, you've joined the ranks of 13 year olds who troll forums...
05:05 pm - I never mocked that damned masturbator...
I NEVER mocked the person who committed suicide. JT
Really?
Your "gamer friend" will find peace through the Lord, Jesus Christ, but sadly it's too late for that. This unfortunate soul chose to fill it up with combat games. The playing of these video games is masturbatory activity, meaning senseless self-stimulation.
Let's pretend to be shocked that a gamer might descend into deeper depression...
So he's going to hell, he mentally masturbates, and you're not surprised he's doomed to further depression. How is this not mocking him?
05:02 pm - What does this have to do with gaming?
JT loves to spam GamePolitics with "press releases" that "clearly" prove that video gamers are violent. His latest "proof"?
Two white teenagers severely beat and sodomized a 16-year-old Hispanic boy who they believed had tried to kiss a 12-year-old white girl at a party. The attackers forced the boy out of the Saturday night house party, beat him and sodomized him with a metal pipe, shouting epithets "associated with being Hispanic." They then poured bleach over the boy, apparently to destroy DNA evidence and left him for dead, authorities said. He wasn't discovered until Sunday, 12 hours after the attack.
Police mention no link to video games, however they are considering filing a murder accessory lawsuit against CSI...
03:22 pm - Unrealistic Consequences, or Not...
Classic JT, this in response to people asking why a lawyer would blame Grand Theft Auto for a shooting death, rather than the quantities of marijuana and alcohol the boys were consuming at the time:
They were playing a game that makes that type of gunplay appear fun and consequence-free. JT
So if they were "influenced" by the game, shouldn't they have been "programmed" to know that the instant they pulled the trigger, someone dies? The game is pretty clear about that. You point a gun at someone, pull the trigger, and it shoots them, and they usually die.
Sounds like the consequences of your actions are pretty well defined in-game...
02:55 pm - OMG a satirical pamphlet! I mean leaflet!
...and even a person going door-to-door in his neighborhood illegally handing out pamphlets referencing that video game site to his neighbors lying about Thompson's activities.
Yes, it is illegal.
It's apparently illegal in Florida to ridicule someone in print form without stating your full name. But that's the only illegal part.
The leaflet was also printed BEFORE Thompson "clarified" that the PROPOSAL was satire, that the offer itself was real.
But other than that, the entire leaflet is truthful. He did ask for a hyper-violent game to be made from his design, he did call the police & FBI, he did try to have them arrested, and he did claim they were "extorting" him...
Check out the "pamphlet" here. Observe that the "video game site" is never directly referenced and Holkins, Krahulic, and Penny Arcade are never named. Although there is a nice link, which if you follow it, it re-directs you to the Penny Arcade website news article which talks about the incident. And there's a link to Child's Play, the charity Penny Arcade runs.
Semantics note to Thompson: It’s a leaflet, not a pamphlet.
02:50 pm - Geography 101
Miami attorney and self-described "anti-game crusader" Jack Thompson issued a press release a short while ago in which he claimed that his life was threatened by a 16-year old boy from Houston, TX. GamePolitics
Thompson had previously claimed:
Also, a kid in Katy, Texas threatened to kill me because of the [Penny Arcade] self-immolation, and that has been more than useful. JT
Katy’s pretty close to Houston, only about thirty miles but I may as well point out that Thompson has no idea what self-immolation means.
(props to Andrew Eisen)
02:35 pm - Reading Comprehension 101
Take-Two has posted on its Rockstar Games web site the false and defamatory assertion that Thompson is a bisexual pedophile... When you click on the fake e-mail, banner headlined at the tope of the home page, from "JT," the Miami, Florida (Liberty City) anti-violent video game crusader, you will find that JT (Jack Thompson) likes to surf the Internet for pictures depicting deviant sex acts by teenage girls. JT
What the web site actually said:
Only last week, I was using the internet to look up some information for my 15 year old niece, who is a keen water skier and state wide sailor. Trust me when I say this - searching under the subject matter "Teenage girls water sports" is not for the faint hearted.
"JT" then goes on to announce that he formed Citizens United Negating Techology For Life And People's Safety, an organization who's view is that the only way to prevent smut on the internet is to "turn it off".
Somehow JT is confusing a man who is shocked and appalled at finding deviant sex acts by teenage girls, when this is clearly not what he intended to search for, with a man who searched for deviant sex acts on purpose.
The bisexual accusation is even less direct. There's an mock radio ad where a mother walks in on a naked man named "Jack" hiding in her son's bedroom closet.
02:34 pm - Fun with press releases!
Andrew Eisen has a great reply to one of JT's older press releases. I'll be breaking them up into individual topics.
10:44 am - You're blocking which law?
you recite, like a mantra, the usefulness of the ESRB ratings in "helping parents make educated pruchase decisions." This is the biggest crock of all. Your organization fights the passage of laws that require A PARENT TO BE THERE AT THE POINT OF SALE, PATTY!
I'd love to see this law which ONLY says that minors need a parent present to purchase ANY game. When in fact, these laws try to single out games which have certain content, thereby activating 1st Amendment protections. If there was a law stating that ALL games require a parent to purchase, I think it would actually survive 1st Amendment scrutiny, since it wouldn't be restricting games based on content.
Plus, there's a difference between providing a tool for parents, and forcing parents to use that tool every time they want to make a purchase. If the parents care, they'll use it. If they feel their child is mature enough, they won't. But it's available for them to use if they want it.
10:34 am - Flip flop of the day
Yee is right. Clinton is right. David Walsh is right. All of you are wrong. JT
Funny, considering that he's accused Hillary Clinton of being in bed with the ESA, and David Walsh of being in bed with Best Buy...
10:24 am - Guilty of Conspiring to Gain Attention
Let's Arrest Patricia Vance for conspiring to distribute material harmful to minors.
Patty, pay attention: Your organization puts phony ratings and descriptors, according to Harvard, on the games. That's fraud. JT
Def: Fraud - Merriam-Webster
intentional perversion of truth in order to induce another to part with something of value or to surrender a legal right : an act of deceiving or misrepresenting
Rather a strong claim, considering that the Harvard study only had concerns about the accuracy of content descriptors, not the ratings themselves. Hardly fraud. If that's the definition of fraud, then JT is committing fraud on a daily basis...
Def: phony - Merriam-Webster
intended to deceive or mislead
Shouldn't it be phony labels? Phony ratings and descriptors implies the descriptors or ratings present are false. Lack of a descriptor is not being phony, it's being inaccurate. (props to beacon80 for pointing that out)
Apr. 26th, 2006
02:28 pm - "Everyone" knows video games cause school shootings...
The link between school shootings and violent video games played by minors has been firmly proven by the FBI, the Secret Service, the heads of six major health care organizations, the US Surgeon General, the American Psychological Association, Harvard, Indiana University, Michigan State, and even Vince Desi Desi (all caps removed because it's freaking annoying) JT
FBI & Secret Service: See Lies, damn lies, and statistics Basically they found no evidence of any such link, and only list video games amongst all violent media, as one of many indicators of possible aggressive tendencies (the USSS found only 12% of young school shooters had links to video games at all, and violent media was not found to be responsible for their violent attitudes)
6 health care orgs: The American Association of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Psychological Association, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American Psychiatric Association released a joint resolution, stating that they are concerned about the amount of violent media minors are exposed to, since in theory it could cause changes in attitudes and possibly behavior, and called for more research. No links to school shootings are mentioned.
US Surgeon General: Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General (2001) found that not enough studies have been done to conclude anything, and in particular, that sample sizes were too small. "The impact of video games on violent behavior remains to be determined."
American Psychological Association: Published two studies that indicate that playing violent video games make your grades suck, and cause you to honk horns more. From these conclusions they published a resolution with 5 other health care groups (see above)
Harvard: I suspect JT is confusing this with another university, because the Harvard study only talked about the reliability of ESRB content descriptors... Or maybe the study that found that watching violent TV correlates with less social activities in minors. Again, no "link to school shootings" (or video games, for that matter...)
Indiana University: Ah, the famous "playing games damages the brain" study. Except the study doesn't conclude this at all. It found that the amount of brain activity in the decision-making and behavioral control centres decreases over a long period of time as you watch more violent images. The study concludes that more research is necessary to find out what this means...
Michigan State: Researchers found that playing violent games results in increases in brain activity in the areas associated with aggressive cognitions, aggressive affects or aggressive behavior. No information is given as to what happens after the game is turned off.
Vince Desi Desi: Vince Desi, CEO of Running With Scissors, makers of the Postal series, has publicly stated that violence belongs on the screen, not the real world, and denounces any links between his games and real world events.
11:43 am - You say comfortable, I say pistachio
JT is fond of saying something along these lines:
The House of Representative's voted 355-21 to whack Take-Two for embedding explicit material in San Andreas.
What they actually voted 355-21 for was to request an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission as to whether or not Take Two intentionally misled the ESRB to gain an "M" rating instead of "AO". And as of yet, the FTC has not released it's findings.
My guess is they are still determining:
a) whether the whole thing was intentional, or a mistake
b) whether Hot Coffee fell outside the contents labelled on the box (it did says Strong Sexual Content afterall...)
I'm pretty sure you're innocent until proven guilty in the US, unless that's something else that's changed with the Patriot Act. Otherwise I'm sure JT would have been labelled guilty a long time ago, considering how many times the Florida Bar has voted to investigate him. I guess they "whack" him on a regular basis...
11:30 am - Can you commit a crime if your actions aren't actually criminal?
Hal Halpin does not want kids not to get these games. He wants them to get them, and the proof is that nothing--NOTHING--is done by his organization to punish the scofflaws who thumb their noses at all the parents who don't want their kids to be able to walk into these stores and buy these mature games. JT
Merriam Webster defines a scofflaw as "a contemptuous law violator."
Last I checked, thumbing your nose at someone is not illegal (although biting your thumb is considered "fightin' words"...), and neither is selling mature games to kids.
So these stores are certainly not violating any laws.
Also, in order to be contemptuous, you must be consciously disregarding the law. If no such law exists, how can you be disregarding it, let alone consciously disregarding it?
Props to Andrew Eisen
10:56 am - School violence is up?
And here's additional proof. ABC News yesterday reported that violence in school is now up, not down. All statements by others to the contrary are lies. JT
Most indicators use a larger sample size, and say that over the last decade, school violence sharply declined after Columbine, and has remained low ever since, with less than 1% of all kids killed by homicide being killed at school. Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2004 - U.S. Department of Justice
The firm quoted by ABC, National School Safety and Security Services (NSSSS), Inc., has a chart showing fatal deaths at school. And while it shows a sharp increase in school shootings in 2003, the ABC article blames various things like reduced school funding due to the Iraq war, intense pressure on students due to standardized exams (without the counselling support to help them through such stressful periods), and increases in gang activity.
Update: Thanks to the_attorney for pointing out that the NSSSS study does not attempt to segregate shootings by age (some incidents involved former students, staff, or other adults who just happened to pick a school to shoot up). It even lists shootings that were "near" a school, not necessarily "at" the school. The US Dept of Justice's study does a much better job of analysing the data, too bad they don't have a post-2003 study ready yet.
Apr. 25th, 2006
04:07 pm - Livejournal's Terms of Service
Terms of Service. Basically the rules for posting here. While LJ is publicly accessible, since it is a privately-owned facility, it is not subject to the 1st Amendment, and therefore anyone can be banned from posting here.
Therefore, claiming your 1st Amendment rights are being stifled by being banned, doesn't apply here. It would be like claiming you have the right to enter Toys-R-Us and scream obscenities. Actually Toys-R-Us has the right to kick you out and post a guard to keep you out, for as long as they deem necessary. You have no say, and neither do the courts. You could possibly argue that they are being discriminatory, which in places like California is a valid argument, but you would need to prove that they are basing their ban on race, sex, sexual orientation, etc, and not just on the fact that you are acting like an ass.
03:58 pm - The new censorship ploy: games = porn
I just had to laugh at this one. JT claims Dennis can't read when he described Oklahoma's video game bill as taking the "games as porn" approach.
The other portion deals with violent material that is harmful to minors, which can include video games. There is absolutely NO equating in the bill of violence with porn. Just the opposite is the case.
The bill itself actually specifically states that only video games are considered under the "inappropriate violence" heading.
As Dennis so nicely put it, the definition of pornography (which uses the Miller Test) is literally rewritten for violence, with the words "material or performance" replaced with "video game or computer software", and "nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement or sadomasochistic abuse" replaced with a list of definitions of "inappropriate violence". Other than that, you might as well be reading the same section over again.
Therefore, the "games as porn" analogy works, because the bill takes it's definition of porn, and copies it, with any references to "porn" replaced with "violence", and this section only applies to video games and computer software.
03:44 pm - Internet Sales
This one needed it's own entry, because I need to explain how credit law works...
JT once again attacked Hal Harpin, this time over internet sales:
What are you doing about Internet sales of mature games to minors, Hal, hmmmm? You happen to know that there is NO ID-ing of kids in those sales.
Most states (Montana example provided) forbid credit issuers to hand out credit cards to minors, without parental consent, mainly due to the fact that minors cannot incure debt or sign contracts for non-essential items. So while credit card companies advertise cards to minors frequently (plenty of disposable income), the company normally has a policy that minors cannot get a card without an adult co-signer, usually parent or guardian.
Otherwise if the kid bought a Ferrari and smashed it, the credit agency would not be able to do anything about it, other than reclaim the wreckage.
For this reason, credit card purchases are deemed by even the US Supreme Court to be reasonable ID checks for age, as handing over government ID online is discouraged. Especially since the advent of things like Verified by Visa, which require a password, so little Timmy can't steal mommie's credit card.
Any purchases by minors with credit cards are also deemed to be done with parental consent/supervision (it's in the application contract), as the parents co-signed the credit card application.
03:05 pm - Number crunching for fun and profit!
Hal Harpin, head of the Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association, responded to a statement by California Assemblyman Yee by quoting the latest Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) report on their "secret shopper" survey, which provides a yearly report on how well the retail industry is voluntarily keeping mature media (movies, music & games) out of the hands of minors. (Note: the 2006 report, based on 2005 surveys, only covers video games, other media will be included in a future report)
He is either quoting an out-dated several year-old study, or has missed the press regarding their latest findings: that the nation's leading retailers, our members, are successfully carding for M-rated games 65% of the time - which puts the games industry on par with his 'Gold Standard,' the movie theatre owners, who card at 69% of the time.
JT immediately jumped in and called Harpin a liar:
the only one misinformed about the FTC's findings is you. The FTC found that close to 40% of the time retailers are still selling mature-rated games to minors.
Since 100% - 60% compliance = 40% failure, technically both are right. But Hal is most certainly not lying.
Comparison from the 2003 FTC report (presented to Congress in 2004):
Video games (retail): 31% compliance, 69% failure (improved to 65% compliance, 35% failure in 2005)
Movies (theatre): 64% compliance, 36% failure (no data available for 2005 yet)
Movies (retail): 19% compliance, 81% failure
Music (retail): 17% compliance, 83% failure
This also refutes Jack's assertion that the industry is "doing nothing" about sales to minors. I think a 110% improvement in enforcement (31% + 110% = 65%, do the math) is certainly indicative of them "doing something"...
Independant Stores
JT also attacked Harpin for the FTC's findings that independant retailers failed to check ID 65% of the time, although this is a pointless comparison, since Harpin is the head of the IEMA, and independant merchants are by the FTC's definition not members of a national chain or organization... It would be like expecting the New York State Bar Association to penalize JT for his antics in Alabama, even though he's not even a member...
Best/Worst analogy of the day:
If Seven-11 had that failure rate on tobacco and alcohol, the CEO of that retailer would be in jail.
Ironically, a 1994 survey found that minors could buy cigarettes 69% of the time, and in 2001 this number was 68% of grade-8 students, and 89% of grade 10 students. Individual states such as California and Massachusetts saw significant decreases, but only through massive state-wide enforcement of ID carding.
I know what! Let's put Hal Halpin in charge of airport security in Boston and let's see if the passengers there are happy with 42% of the fliers not being checked for explosives and other weapons and not asking 50% of the fliers for identification!
Also rather stupid, but then again, I suppose since JT fears video games about as much as he does Al-Queda terrorists, his pants-wetting at the though of a minor buying a copy of "The Sims" and doing unspeakable things to his sim are understandable...
I'm sure JT's aware of the difference between the dangers of an airplane bomb/highjacking, and a minor increase in a minors' access to violent media...
But if he's not, here's the best explanation: While fliers are required by law, under severe penalty, to be checked for explosives and weapons, stores are operating voluntarily... Imagine if JT had to voluntarily leave LJ. Guess how well he'd abide by that one...
02:29 pm - Lies, damn lies, and statistics
mnementh2230 had the brilliant idea that I should keep track of Jack Thompson's many truth stretchings, statistical manipulations, and outright misquotations.
So, first up, the FBI and Secret Service reports JT loves to quote:
The School Shooter: A Threat Assessment Perspective - The FBI's report on school shootings, following the Columbine School Massacre.
Implications for Prevention of School Attacks in the United States - Final Report - The Secret Service's report on school shootings, released around the same time. (the preliminary report is here)
The Depressive and the Psychopath - At last we know why the Columbine killers did it. (kudos to finn_maccumhail for the link)
So, first off, JT's comment on GamePolitics:
After Columbine, the FBI and Secret Service did their own separate "threat assessments" as to why these school mass killings were occurring in the late 1990s. Each found that the one common denominator was the perpetrators' immersion in violent entertainment, particularly violent murder simulation video games.
Here's a perfect example of truth stretching. While the FBI and the USSS both found that violent media was a common staple of perpetrators of school violence, neither list video games as particularly influential.
In fact, the USSS report finds that only 12% of school shooters were obsessed with video games, compared to 25% with movies, 25% with books, and nearly 40% being obsessed with their own writings, such as poems, diaries, or essays.
The FBI lists "Facination with Violence-filled Entertainment" as a possible warning sign, but note that the individual is more likely to be obsessed with the violent images themselves rather than any storyline or context, and as such the perp is likely to be obsessed with any media with violent images. The FBI report also stresses that this is but one of many "warning signs", and should not in itself be construed as an "indicator" of homicidal tendencies.
Next up, JT's love of number crunching...