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Jack Thompson sues Facebook for $40 million

by on01 October 2009


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Gaming critic finds new source of cash, publicity


Anti-gaming
crusader and disbarred lawyer Jack Thompson has come up with a cunning plan to make more cash in yet another frivolous lawsuit.

Thompson is best known for his rather unsuccessful attempts to sue Grand Theft Auto franchise publisher Take Two Interactive, Sony Computer Entertainment America and Wal-Mart. For some reason Thompson argued that GTA would turn America's youth into gun wielding nuts who would shoot everything in site. Luckily the courts threw out his suit, but not before Thompson made a name for himself in the anti-gaming community.

Due to his rather questionable ethics, the Florida Supreme Court disbarred Thompson, permanently. However, this merely slowed him down, and he's back with a new hopeless lawsuit. This time around he is dragging Facebook to court over some inappropriate comments posted by various users. The fact that so many people hate him isn't an issue, but the fact that they are posting their rants on Facebook could cost the social networking site $40 million. It could, but knowing Thompson's track record, it probably won't.

Thompson says some of the posts in hate groups caused him "great harm and distress." We're not sure his "great harm and distress" is worth $40 million, but at least some of the comments were rather funny. The biggest Thompson hate groups on Facebook are supposedly I Hate Jack Thompson, Stop Jack Thompson, and Disbar Jack Thompson.

One group member offered 50 bucks to anyone who would punch Thompson in the face, while another one said he should be smacked over the face with an Atari 2600. We still don't think this is good enough for $40 million. Furthermore, Facebook did not make the threats, its users did, but we guess you suing kids for their lunch money is just a bit less appealing than suing a major internet company for millions.

Also, Thompson says he's been repeatedly harassed since his appearance on 60 Minutes in 2005, and that his home was shot at, his car vandalized and that he received calls from angry gamers. We still fail to see how this has anything to do with Facebook. Oddly, Thompson is citing a recent decision to take down a joke poll involving US President Barack Obama as grounds for his lawsuit.

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