Internet users in eight Chinese cities have united to sue a
major Internet company for plaguing computers with "rogue
software".
The alliance, covering Beijing, Jinan, Urumqi, Xining, Dalian,
Tianjin, Wuhan and Chengdu, filed suits against the Oak Pacific
Interactive for crippling computers with software that cannot be
completely uninstalled.
The alliance considered "rogue software" to include software
that forced advertisement pop-ups, collected personal information
or endangered assets when performing normal functions like
downloading or playing files.
Planning to sue one or two rogue software manufacturers each
week, the alliance has brought to court major Internet companies
like Zhongsou, Yahoo! China, Alibaba and eBay China since its
inauguration on Sept. 4, demanding a symbolic compensation of 94
yuan (US$11.75) for each case.
The Shanghai Morning Post reported that local
government officials in Shanghai had drafted standards on
determining rogue software to provide legal support for the
fight.
With a market of 1 billion yuan, the rogue software industry is
driven by huge commercial interests.
Statistics from the Internet Society of China show more than 130
types of rogue software are spread on the country's Internet, while
98.75 percent of 20,000 users polled by the Sina website said they
had been attacked by rogue software.
(Xinhua News Agency September 27, 2006)