22-11-2005, 14:30
Lindo! 
John B. Thompson, Attorney at Law
Coral Gables, Florida 33146
November 21, 2005
Jeff Bezos
Founder, Chairman, and CEO
Tom Szkutak
Senior Vice President
Amazon.com, Inc.
1200 12th Avenue, South, Suite 1200
Seattle, Washington Via Fax to 206-266-xxxx
Re: Tortious, Possibly Criminal Activity at Amazon.com
Dear Mr. Bezos and Mr. Szkutak:
Tyndale House has just rolled out my first book, Out of Harms Way, ISBN 1414304420.
Because this book deals, in part, with my efforts against the recklessness sectors of the video game industry in their marketing and sale of Mature-rated murder simulation games to minors, most recently reported on CBSs 60 Minutes and in Readers Digest, the video game industry and its minions are trying to spike the book at your Internet site with bookstorming techniques that have been well-documented by others.
Your rules for posting reviews have been violated by nearly every post by these vigilantes, with attacks on me personally by many fake reviewers who admit they have never even read the book.
Your own personnel have promised that this would stop. It has not stopped. It has gotten worse. You apparently have in your own corporate division that is supposed to make this illicit activity stop individuals sympathetic to the gaming culture (oxymoronically named). Maybe you need more adults in there.
I think you ought to be concerned that at your site, after I have been promised that this would cease, posts that I am a homosexual, that I have threatened to anally rape teenaged boys, and so forth. Such assertions are not only false and defamatory, but they also are a parroting of the same libelous assertions at the www.rockstargames.com site which promotes the sociopathic murder simulation games of Rockstar such as the Grand Theft Auto games.
I am also concerned about your sites knowingly allowing the posting in the Images section, among other things, a modification of the books cover to appear to be riddled with bullet holes, with the label Murder Simulator below my image.
What Amazon.com is doing in all this is allowing its site to be turned from a bookselling site into one giant, out of control, tort-laden, porn-filled chat room at which your company is knowingly allowing its own rules to be broken at my expense. This had best stop.
There is some case law that your lawyers may misinterpret to suggest that Amazon.com has no liability for this type of tortious activity. That would be a misreading of the key case. There is no immunity for what is going on now regarding me and my book at your site, including the not-too-clever calls for me to be harmed physically.
Finally, I would think that Amazon.com, to be blunt, would have a more robust view of the First Amendment and its protections than what your company is now exhibiting. What we are seeing, with your companys acquiescence, is a bunch of pixelantes who are using the harassment and intimidation techniques of the Mafia to try to shut down the First Amendment speech of the undersigned, all in the name of the First Amendment. There are specific federal statutes that criminalize what others, with Amazon.com's cooperation, are doing. This approach, using these federal statutes, would not be hamstrung by the aforementioned federal case involving Amazon.com. Now you two executives know what is going on..
Why Amazon.com would want to knowingly collaborate in violations of the First Amendment, I really cant quite fathom. You're supposed to like books, not spike books.
But let me assure, that Amazon.com does so at its own grave risk.
Please govern yourselves accordingly.
Regards, Jack Thompson
John B. Thompson, Attorney at Law
Coral Gables, Florida 33146
November 21, 2005
Jeff Bezos
Founder, Chairman, and CEO
Tom Szkutak
Senior Vice President
Amazon.com, Inc.
1200 12th Avenue, South, Suite 1200
Seattle, Washington Via Fax to 206-266-xxxx
Re: Tortious, Possibly Criminal Activity at Amazon.com
Dear Mr. Bezos and Mr. Szkutak:
Tyndale House has just rolled out my first book, Out of Harms Way, ISBN 1414304420.
Because this book deals, in part, with my efforts against the recklessness sectors of the video game industry in their marketing and sale of Mature-rated murder simulation games to minors, most recently reported on CBSs 60 Minutes and in Readers Digest, the video game industry and its minions are trying to spike the book at your Internet site with bookstorming techniques that have been well-documented by others.
Your rules for posting reviews have been violated by nearly every post by these vigilantes, with attacks on me personally by many fake reviewers who admit they have never even read the book.
Your own personnel have promised that this would stop. It has not stopped. It has gotten worse. You apparently have in your own corporate division that is supposed to make this illicit activity stop individuals sympathetic to the gaming culture (oxymoronically named). Maybe you need more adults in there.
I think you ought to be concerned that at your site, after I have been promised that this would cease, posts that I am a homosexual, that I have threatened to anally rape teenaged boys, and so forth. Such assertions are not only false and defamatory, but they also are a parroting of the same libelous assertions at the www.rockstargames.com site which promotes the sociopathic murder simulation games of Rockstar such as the Grand Theft Auto games.
I am also concerned about your sites knowingly allowing the posting in the Images section, among other things, a modification of the books cover to appear to be riddled with bullet holes, with the label Murder Simulator below my image.
What Amazon.com is doing in all this is allowing its site to be turned from a bookselling site into one giant, out of control, tort-laden, porn-filled chat room at which your company is knowingly allowing its own rules to be broken at my expense. This had best stop.
There is some case law that your lawyers may misinterpret to suggest that Amazon.com has no liability for this type of tortious activity. That would be a misreading of the key case. There is no immunity for what is going on now regarding me and my book at your site, including the not-too-clever calls for me to be harmed physically.
Finally, I would think that Amazon.com, to be blunt, would have a more robust view of the First Amendment and its protections than what your company is now exhibiting. What we are seeing, with your companys acquiescence, is a bunch of pixelantes who are using the harassment and intimidation techniques of the Mafia to try to shut down the First Amendment speech of the undersigned, all in the name of the First Amendment. There are specific federal statutes that criminalize what others, with Amazon.com's cooperation, are doing. This approach, using these federal statutes, would not be hamstrung by the aforementioned federal case involving Amazon.com. Now you two executives know what is going on..
Why Amazon.com would want to knowingly collaborate in violations of the First Amendment, I really cant quite fathom. You're supposed to like books, not spike books.
But let me assure, that Amazon.com does so at its own grave risk.
Please govern yourselves accordingly.
Regards, Jack Thompson
"Being based on history, the stages of the game will also be based on battles which actually took place in ancient Japan. So here's this giant enemy crab..."