A lawsuit was filed against China's top Internet statistical agency on Tuesday amid a countrywide campaign against malicious software that allegedly hacks into personal computers and disrupts systems.

The government-backed China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) is the latest target of an online coalition against software that spies on computers. The coalition has rallied Internet users to take legal action against five companies including Yahoo China and eBay Eachnet amid increasingly heated disputes among several websites that accuse one another of profiting from "rogue software."

The legal papers against CNNIC were submitted to a court in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, which will decide within a week if it will accept the case.

The plaintiff is a lawyer who has charged CNNIC with forcing the installation of its application onto computers without informing users beforehand. It is also difficult to uninstall the program. It disturbs the user's life and work, according to a statement from the Anti-rogue-software Coalition.

The lawsuit seeks 94 yuan (US$12) in compensation -- the same amount as in the coalition's other actions. The plaintiff also wants CNNIC to apologize to Internet users in China.

CNNIC insisted its software complies with standards set by the Internet Engineering Task Force, the regulatory body for Internet operations.

"We support the nationwide campaign by the coalition and the media to fight against rogue software," CNNIC said in a statement.
 
(Shanghai Daily October 11, 2006)