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)