I originally donated $5. I have told the waxy.org owner that I got my monies worth by having my blog linked to that high-traffic page, and the owner of waxy.org can keep the money.

Link doesn't work

Poor Jish is getting Farked and boinged simultaneously.

Maybe he'll team up with SCO.

I also donated and certainly do not want a refund. FYI, they are still going to give the iPod (and a gift certificate) to the kid and Waxy.org has no plan to keep the dough if that falls through--they will refund all of us if not resolved by 6/10.

Even if the kid (or more likely the parents or other "interested" parties) are now inclined to sue, that doesn't make the kid a jerk who no longer deserves some kind of recompense. He's just a goofy kid and he's been jerked around by his "peers" and now, I'm guessing, by the grown-ups.

Andrew Baio at Waxy.org who started this fund, IMO, was one of the only people out there who handled this meme with some genuine compassion. The ironic thing is that, considering the venues, a lot of the people bashing this poor nerd are nerds themselves who, by the grace of god, didn't have any of their embarrassing moments captured on video and distributed world-wide.

Ich bin ein nerd.

"Some unfortunate news, everybody. Ghyslain, aka the "Star Wars Kid," and his family may be pursuing legal action against the individual(s) who originally posted his video on the Internet."

WTF? Somebody asserting his right to privacy and not be subjected to ridicule is "unfortunate news"? Hell, lets all just start digitizing and uploading to Kazaa any embarassing private video that happens to end up in our possession.

I think this kid does have the right to sue, especially if it was his private property that was taken and distributed on the Net without his consent. He may have a legal leg to stand on on this basis. You can't sue for embarassment, but you can sue for theft. So if that's what he's doing, I say he should go for it.

And why not give him the iPod still? The people who donated funds did so to make him feel better. That's cool and all, but him suing is his own means to make him feel better, too.

i think the reason why several people donated money to his cause was because it seemed he was being such a good sport about finding his videon on the internet, so they wanted to support such a viewpoint in an odd way. now that he's no longer being a good sport, be it either by deciding to sue himself or being influenced by his parents or whatever, the donations feel pretty tainted to those who donated for that reason.

hrm....new look for jish's page.....xroad.com. is Ghyslain a hacker?

i think the kid deserves the iPod as a gesture to help him realize not everyone out there is an ass. if his family chooses to sue, which they have strong reason to, it not only serves as a way to defend his property (and dignity to some degree) but also to act as a deterent to soemone else who might consider embarassing the hell out of someone for kicks.

> hrm....new look for jish's page.....
> xroad.com. is Ghyslain a hacker?

patrick,

Whattya mean? Was xroad's server hacked?

Edited by author 05-31-2003 09:50 PM
>patrick,

>Whattya mean? Was xroad's server hacked?

Could be wonky DNS -- when I click on the link -- or type in jish.nu or www.jish.nu, i get the main xroad page.
http://www.whois.sc/jish.nu shows website status 'not active'. Maybe he was slashdotted (too much traffic in too short a time, for those who aren't familiar)

I don't think this kid will have a leg to stand on in court. The key here is that he LEFT the "offending" tape in the school's video camera, which was discovered by those who put it online. It's like making a MP3 of yourself singing in a horrible falsetto tone and leaving it on a public computer. Ghyslain should've been more careful with the tape if he didn't want it to fall into the wrong hands.

But who knows?

Regardless, I withdrew my donation once I heard about the lawsuit. Ghyslain needs to suck it up and roll with it. Hell, he got good press for what he did, and he might still get his iPod too. And still he (or his parents) chose to sue. What a crybaby.

On the basis of Outfield's post, I'm going over to donate if the link is ever back up. Suck it up. That makes sense to an embarrassed sixteen year old.

By that thinking, if I forget my backpack on the bus, its entire contents are not only free for the taking, but they can be distributed all over the net. Nonsense.

False analogy. Outfield nailed it - He recorded himself on a SCHOOL tape in SCHOOL gear @ SCHOOL. He doesn't own squat in this.

If I make an ass of myself in the school play, seen live by hundreds of students and parents, and then a few weeks later my 'friends' take the video of the school's play and make a loop of my bufoonery for the net to see, can I sue then too?

Your backpack contains your personal property (maybe with some state issued textbooks in it) that is totally different.

Ernie, you're saying if a student writes a short story on a school supplied sheet of paper, with a school owned pencil, while at school, he doesn't own the copyright to the story?

psyork:

Embarassed? Let's see...the majority of people who've seen the video are nerds (you say geek, but I say nerd) themselves (including me), who can identify with Ghyslain. Those people are praising him, and scrounging up money to buy him some fancy gadgets. How can he be embarassed about that?

It could've been much worse for him. Suck it up? That's right. By publicly considering a lawsuit, he's eroding whatever support everyone had for him. And the clock is reading 14:59.

I don't know about you, but none of the schools I went to ever supplied pens or pencils to me at no cost, unless it was for a drafting class. The only paper ever supplied to me was in the form of mimeographed tests and assignments. Of course, this was 20 years ago, so things may have changed in the paper department.

You don't think it's possible that the lawyers for the kid contacted Jish's hosts and that they've shut him down do you?

WJPOConnor: Never borrowed a pen or pencil from the teacher, when you forgot one? Never were given a "blue books" of blank paper for tests?

And were your drafting drawings not copyright by you, then, even though you used school supplies on school property?

cypherpunks: If there was ever a person worthy of the "Grasping for Straws" award, it would be you. Quick, someone make a trophy and ship it to this guy. :)

I got video-taped at a whorehouse once. Showed it to my mom.

so does anyone know if star wars kid sued for sure? and if so, why? he could make some serious money if he'd be a better sport about it...suing just makes him look like an angry punk.

I don't know if the Star Wars Kid sued or not. But I am sure I wont sue on my own video. You have to watch. It is based on the Star Wars Kid and it is hillarious. Make me "the Corona Man". Go to www.donfilemon.com to watch it.

New Star Wars Kid merchandise. www.cafepress.com/swk_stuff

This Filemon is the SHIT HAHAHA never laughed so much nearly pissed my pants!!!!

Link please.

Come see the latest star wars kid movie here

http://www.brunolefou.com/movie2.html

and also on http://www.spindulik.com

huh? i dont know what your talking about please type back tomorrow