A Canadian teenager has launched legal action against classmates who put a video of him online, saying that the publicity has left him mentally scarred.
Ghyslain Raza became known as the "Star Wars Kid" after a video of him using a golf ball retriever to emulate the light sabre slinging tricks of Darth Maul was posted on the net. The video was hugely popular and some people even added effects to make the golf ball retriever look and sound like a light sabre. But the public exposure of the clip proved a burden for Mr Raza, who has been through psychiatric care to cope with his unwanted publicity.
Cash call
The 15-year-old made the two minute video as part of a class project but probably never intended it to be seen by anyone else as it is not a flattering portrayal of his sabre-twirling skills. The lawsuit filed last week alleges that four classmates of Mr Raza stole the video from the cupboard in which it was being stored, digitized the clip, posted it online and then invited people to view it and make insulting remarks. Since the original was posted on the Kazaa file-sharing system, it has been downloaded and passed around to millions of people and Mr Raza's story has been featured in newspapers all over the world.
News source: BBC News
