Town Shuts Down Pinball Hall, Because Pinball Was Deemed Evil In the 1960s [Update]

from the that-deaf-dumb-and-blind-kid-might-go-to-jail dept

We've seen over and over again how forms of popular entertainment, from the waltz and chess to comic books and rock n' roll, have often been deemed "a bad influence" (or worse) on children and and "respectable" folks in society, leading to efforts to outlaw them. In some cases, these efforts have been successful -- such as with the horribly evil game of pinball. I have to admit, I did not realize that pinball was actually banned in large parts of the US for many years due to connections with organized crime and (yet again) a fear of the "bad influence" the game had on kids. Many cities and towns felt that arcades and pinball games were not the sort of thing that should be seen anywhere respectable, as it was an indication of the wrong type of business.

While most of the world has grown out of this, apparently some of those laws are still on the books. Jay points us to the news that a guy who opened up a retro arcade/pinball museum and entertainment center in the small town of Beacon, NY has been forced to shut down because someone discovered this ancient law on the books banning pinball. While absolutely everyone admits that this is a dumb law, and they would be perfectly happy to have this shop open up, they're apparently still enforcing the law, and for some unclear reason, the city council is taking forever to repeal the law. In a video report on CNN no real reason is given for this delay, other than that these things take time.

Update: Someone in the comments helpfully provided the town mayor's response, claiming that the CNN report was misleading, and left out the fact that there were serious noise ordinance issues with the place, and that it had changed business models from one that was considered okay, to one that was not. The mayor also insists that he's done a bunch of things to try to make this right. However, others still find the use of such a law to be questionable.

Filed Under: pinball

Woman Fined Nearly $30,000 For Sharing Pinball Game Software With Friends

from the punishment-fits-the-crime?!? dept

Last month we wrote about how the UK law firm Davenport Lyons had sued over 100 people for supposedly file sharing a silly pinball video game. As we noted, Davenport Lyons has been accused of some questionable practices, such as sending out threatening pre-settlement letters based on extremely faulty evidence from Logistep. Various other countries in Europe have sanctioned lawyers for relying on the same evidence that Davenport Lyons uses, and both Italy and Switzerland have said that Logistep's method of identifying file sharers is illegal -- but that hasn't stopped the firm from continuing its efforts.

And now it's announcing a victory. A woman that it sued has been fined about $30,000 for file sharing that same pinball game. Apparently, UK courts have no sense of making sure the punishment fits the crime. Everyone involved notes that the woman wasn't sharing the game for commercial purposes, but wanted a few friends to be able to play it as well. For that she now needs to pay $30,000?

Oddly, Davenport Lyons used this news to announce that it was suing 100 people for sharing this game... even though it had already announced that last month. Unfortunately, the reporter for the Daily Mail in the UK only takes Davenport Lyons' side of things. The report quotes a lawyer talking about all the evils and losses from file sharing, without any quotes from those who know those numbers are bogus -- and never once questioning why it's reasonable for someone sharing a simple cheap game with a few friends to be fined $30,000. The reporter mentions Logistep, but not the troubles it's faced in other countries (or the trouble lawyers who rely on its evidence have faced). It's time reporters stopped simply parroting this story, which is based on faulty premises, faulty numbers and faulty evidence.

Filed Under: downloads, file sharing, fines, pinball, pre-settlement letters, uk, uploads, video games
Companies: davenport lyons