James Delahunty
2 Oct 2009 1:48
Disbarred Florida lawyer, Jack Thompson - the man who said "Grand Theft Auto" is a "murder simulator" and blamed it for the murder of three people - has filed a lawsuit against Facebook over comments on the website. Thompson claims that certain Facebook groups and user comments are a threat to his personal safety.
He said that groups on the website that call for users to "smack him in the face for $50" or "hit him with an Atari game system" have caused him harm and distress. Thompson is seeking $40 million in damages from the social networking giant - Facebook will contest the suit in court.
According to the legal documents, Thompson became aware of the groups on Facebook, such as "Jack Thompson should be removed from the populace" and "Jack Thompson should be smacked across the face with an Atari 2600," in August, and Facebook failed to close the groups on request. Thompson attempted to contact Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg twice in August - by Fax - not exactly how the site expects you to make these kind of complaints.
"This conduct by Facebook constitutes a willful and wanton disregard of the rights and safety of plaintiff and warrants an award of punitive damages against Facebook," according to Thompson's suit. Facebook said that it repeatedly asked Thompson to link directly to the specific content he wanted removed, but he was unable or unwilling to do so.
"This suit is without merit and we will fight it vigorously," a Facebook spokesman said. "Additionally, it is our practice to remove content that threatens an individual when it is brought to our attention." Eric Goldman, director of the High Tech Law Institute, said that Thompson has no case.
"Thompson has absolutely no chance holding Facebook liable for these user postings," Goldman told PC Magazine, commenting that the Telecommunications Act of 1996 takes the liability away from Facebook in this case. "It doesn't matter if Facebook receives notice of a problem and fails to act, or if Facebook has acted in similar situations and hasn't acted here. Regardless of any of these facts, [the Telecom Act] says that Facebook categorically isn't liable."