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CYBERsitter sues China for $2.2 billion

06 January 2010

US security firm CYBERsitter is suing the Chinese government for $2.2 billion for software piracy, after it allegedly used the company's source code as part of its controversial Green Dam project.

CYBERsitter, also known as Solid Oak Software, issued the lawsuit on Tuesday, targeting the People's Republic of China, two Chinese software makers, and seven major computer manufacturers. The lawsuit alleges misappropriation of trade secrets, unfair competition, copyright infringement, and conspiracy.

Sony, Lenovo, Toshiba, ASUSTek, BenQ, and Haier were named in the suit, which says that over 3,000 lines of code were copied from CYBERsitter's software.

Green Dam was a project created by the Chinese government's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to install a software program on all PCs shipped in China after July 1 of last year. It was created to "build a green, healthy, and harmonious online environment, and to avoid the effects on and poisoning of our youth's minds by harmful information on the internet."

The software made headlines both because of its political ramifications, and its security implications. Activist groups worry that the Chinese government could use the software to monitor and control where its citizens surfed online.

Researchers at the University of Michigan also identified security vulnerabilities in the Green Dam software that could allow third parties to take control of a machine and co-opt it to a bot net.

The Chinese government announced in August that it would not be requiring the mandatory installation of the software. "While the mandate subsequently was reversed, the defendants continued to distribute millions of copies of Green Dam in furtherance of the Chinese government's efforts to control Internet access," CYBERsitter said in a statement. 

 

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