No, you are totally wrong... 40% of kids presenting at a major retailer can buy an M-rated game, no questions asked. Plus, the rate on-line is 100%. The Federal Trade Commission confirms this. Get your facts straight. Jack Thompson
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[not in citation given]Jack Thompson
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If Hal Halpin really wanted kids not to buy mature-rated games, here is what he would do:
He would do his secret stings on his retail lobbyist organization's members, similar to those done by Dr. Walsh's NIMF and by the Federal Trade Commission.
Upon tabulating the results, his organization would fine members that did not score at least a 90% compliance with the ESRB rating system in the first wave of stings.
Upon a second failure of any retail chain not to comply, the results of the failure would be made public.
Upon a third failure to meet the 90% compliance rate, the retailer would be kicked out of the organization.
Will Halpin do anything like this? Of course not! He gets paid by the retailers to make a 42% retailer failure rate look like "success." 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.
Hal Halpin is a phony, and anyone dimwitted enough not to know it is probably a gamer. Fondly, Jack ThompsonJack Thompson
Jack Thompson on Kansas Television This Evening
Pixelantes and Hal Halpin, Who Is Just a Highly Paid Pixelante Lobbyist:
I am on Kansas television tonight and your're not. I'll be explaining to folks in Senator Brownback's homestate that some of the perps involved in the "Kansas Columbine" incited were found to be gamers by virtue of my close work with the law enforcement community there.
On the other side of the ledger, you have Hal Halpin, who spends days and nights doing whatever he can to make sure other parents' kids have access to violent video games that are mature-rated. If Hal Halpin really wanted to stop the sale of mature-rated games to kids he would stop agitating against legislation that requires a parent to make the purchasing choice.
See, Hal Halpin can't have it both ways, and maintain to the public that he is an honest individual. If the industry acknowledges that the mature-rated games are inappropriate for minors, then you can't also be for a scheme, as is Hal Halpin, that allows the sale of a mature-rated game to a kid with no parent in sight.
Either prohibit the sale of these games to kids, or stop pretending to want to stop the sales. The Federal Trade Commission repeatedly states that 35% or more of the kids who got to major retailers are able to buy these mature games. A kid who goes to two retailers has a better than 50% chance of getting the game. Hal opposes doing anything to stop the totally unregulated sale of mature games to kids of any age via the Internet.
Hal Halpin assists, daily, the video game industry's mental molestation of minors for money. Hal, get an honest job, please. Jack ThompsonJack Thompson
Doug Lowenstein Is Lying Again
Actually, Doug, a universal rating system does NOT require the "support of many other industries." All it requires is 50% + 1 of the legislators in the New York Assembly and Senate, respectively. Duh.
Further, Doug, and I know it is hard for you to pay attention, with your traveling make-up artist asking you to close your eyes intermittently, but here you go. Maybe she can read this to you as you're being powdered: The laws that have been struck down have not used the proper approach. The courts have identified the problems. Those of us out here crafting better laws can actually read. We haven't had our frontal lobes fried by games, you know. You're about to see the proper approach in Delaware, Louisiana, and North Carolina.
For Bo, short for Boring, please note: We are all very aware of what your lying retailer organizations are doing. You're covering up the fact that the Federal Trade Commission has recently found that 42% of the time, kids of any age can buy Mature-rated games. That means, any underage kid who goes to two stores has a 63% chance of buying a Mature-rated game. Thus, the rating system is utterly flawed and ineffectual.
What we are out to do, with Governor Spitzer's help, is stop the video game industry from marketing and selling Mature-rated games to minors. Pretty simple stuff, really, and the industry is in a total panic realizing that that day is approaching. Glad to help explain it all to you guys.
Oh, and Doug, why don't you go threaten CBS again.
Jack ThompsonJack Thompson
"First of All, Hal, It's Doctor, Not Mister, Yee... FTC's findings is you. The FTC found that close to 40% of the time retailers are still selling mature-rated games to minors. If Seven-11 had that failure rate on tobacco and alcohol, the CEO of that retailer would be in jail. What you need to do, Hal, is stop lying about federal government findings. It catches up with you. You've been hanging around Doug Lowenstein too much. Jack Thompson
Jack Thompson
"Hal Halpin states that the FTC found that as to his retail members,"only" 35% of the time are kids able to buy mature-rated video games.
What Mr. Halpin didn't tell you is that the figure for all retailers is 42%. Note the following found in the Reuters story reporting the entire truth:
"The FTC said that 42 percent of its undercover shoppers -- who were children between the ages of 13 and 16 -- were able to buy an M-rated game last year." This is at link to Reuters news story.
In addition, and this is what Hal Halpin doesn't want you to know, the Federal Trade Commission has most recently found that only in 50% of the instances did the cashier ask for the age ID of the buyer!
See link to FTC study
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!
How long would Hal Halpin hold that job, hmmm?
You see folks, Hal Halpin is paid by the retail industry to put a happy face on a failed system that allows millions of kids to buy millions of mature-rated games, and Hal Halpin couldn't care less because he's never met, as I have, year after year, families of those slain by video gamers. Hal Halpin has blood on his hands, the hands that hold his filthy lobbyist money. Jack ThompsonJack Thompson
Thompson, Jack
Thompson, John Sparrow
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