Cybersitter suit accuses China, PC makers of software piracy
Summary
California-based Solid Oak Software, which sells the Cybersitter program, filed a $2.2 billion civil action in federal court in Los Angeles.
Topics
A California company filed a software piracy lawsuit on Tuesday against the Chinese government, two Chinese software developers, and seven PC manufacturers, alleging they illegally copied code from its web content filtering program and distributed that code as part of the Green Dam Youth Escort censorship effort sponsored by the Chinese government.California-based Solid Oak Software, which sells the Cybersitter program, filed the $2.2bn civil action in federal court in Los Angeles.In addition to the People's Republic of China, the named defendants are PC makers Sony and Toshiba of Japan; Lenovo, Acer, Asustek and BenQ of Taiwan; and Haier Group of China, as well as Chinese software makers Zhengzhou Jinhui Computer System Engineering and Beijing Dazheng Human Language Technology Academy.For more, read "Cybersitter suit accuses China, PC makers of software piracy" on CNET News.
Talkback Most Recent of 56 Talkback(s)
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Good. I hope they get somewhere
I'm not sure that they'll ever collect dime one but at least they are going after the people that hijacked the code for facist purposes.
ca1ic0cat6th Jan 2010 -
What other purposes does their code have?
The entire purpose of it is to censor content
deemed inappropriate by authority figures.
AzuMao6th Jan 2010 -
RE: Cybersitter suit accuses China, PC makers of software piracy
It's a wonder why the U.S. and the rest of the free world continues to do business with a Communist country that is well known as a pirate, manufacture of cheap knock-offs and human rights abuser.
benoddo6th Jan 2010 -
China owns yer butt
You're right, but there's no need to wonder -- the US owes China about 3 trillion dollars, and most of the goods bought in the US and Canada come from China. If they ever called in their loan, or valued their currency realistically, or stopped using cheap labour to produce all those goods, we'd all be screwed. That's why we still do business with them.
justthisguyyouknow6th Jan 2010 -
Trade deficit
Yes, but at the same time, if they did that, they'd end up with no one to sell to, since no one could afford to buy.
Economics works differently at the macro scale than it does at the micro scale. China simply will not call in the debt, because if they did, it would trigger a complete collapse of their largest markets, which in turn would shut down China's own factories, which would exacerbate China's unemployment situation to the point that a counter-revolution might occur.
Instead, they use the threat of calling in the debts as leverage in political talks.
tarek_okail@...6th Jan 2010 -
While being rip-off by poor quality
I know, I felt for it. Needed a new battery for my laptop. I had a choice to
buy American or Chinese. Went for the chinese product. After 8 months,
that battery is just about dead. I wanted to save 20$. teaches me. I just
received my new one manufactured and sold in the US...
minardi6th Jan 2010 -
Battery or software piracy?
Besides of the fact that you talk out of your behind about the quality
(nothing is made in the US, at the very best it is designed in the US) this
is about software piracy. I would love to see the Chinese government get
under, just like any other repressive government...
rhon@...6th Jan 2010 -
A lot of stuff is still made here
Get your facts straight. The US still has a lot of manufacturing jobs, and not just the auto makers. There's a lot of high-quality, high-tech product being made here and exported.
As for software piracy, that is only one of China's sins. It will steal and use anything it wants. This goes as far as them buying capital equipment from US companies and then refusing to pay for it after it is installed. Most US companies are too afraid to go after them, so I say Three Cheers to Cybersitter!
topsidefarm@...6th Jan 2010 -
Those blasted, sinning, heathens!
They need to read 4:04 Gates;
"Thou shall not download free music, and thou
shall not download free software, lest ye fall
under the grasp of the communist devil!"AzuMao15th Jan 2010 -
Many items are being made in the US and Canada again.
My household has been making an effort to "buy local" and while most would think this applies only to food, my son plays with wooden toys and I use garden tools made less than 100 miles from our home.
According to a recent Forbes article by Shaun Rein called "How To Sell To The Chinese In 2010", the Chinese themselves avoid "Made in China" and are willing to pay a 20% premium for items made elsewhere. L'Oreal, with its Lancome beauty products (manufactured in Montreal Canada amongst other locations), has been very successful as an example.
914four7th Jan 2010 -
Shhhh! you will make our new masters mad!
I can't speak to the merit of the case, but I can speak to the merit of the Chinese government and know that capability and intent make a nasty business partner.
I can also speak to our(US) government's ability to facilitate human rights abuse, piracy, poisoned products, cratering the US industrial workforce, degraded product quality (almost everything is junk now), and open warfare against the environment (excuse me if I forgot some).
Here is my prediction. Our congressmen will make stupid rhetoric and empty promises and this case will be settled for pennies on the dollar because China will not cooperate and no one has the will to stand up to them.
BTW- READERS if you are a Wal-Mart shopper, thank you for fueling the problem!
eric.jernigan6th Jan 2010 -
Not just Walmart
It's EVERY major, and most minor, retailer.
Dr. John6th Jan 2010 -
WallyWorld
http://sendables.jibjab.com/originals/big_box_mart
As long as our government insists on jumping into the pockets of business, you'll have outsourcing to economies which can produce at a lower cost.
But, this is nothing new. Japan, Korea, and Taiwan have all had the same role. India and China are in line now.
Just wait for Cap and Trade....
Overcharge7th Jan 2010 -
RE: Cybersitter suit accuses China, PC makers of software piracy
It is surprising that China continues to do business with the greatest warmongering country in recent history - the US.
But then everything these days is just about money
ben.wyatt@...6th Jan 2010 -
Re: Cybersitter suit, blah, blah, blah
ben, i wonder why you believe that it's just "these days" that's it's just about money? it has always been about money and the accompanying power assigned to holders of money. this is true of any nation, anywhere, at anytime throughout history as far back as you can go. those that have, want more; those that don't have not only want some, but they want to punish those that have for having. utopia is nice to think about but the reality is that if there were only 2 people alive on the earth, chances are pretty good that one of them would want something the other one has or want to be the "person in charge."
china and the u.s. are in a bit of a symbiotic relationship now because of our dependence on chinese trade, our indebtedness, and china's reliance on a moderately strong dollar. if any thing were to perturb the system, it seems likely that both sides would go down flaming and take a considerable number of not so innocent bystander countries with them.
dhestand6th Jan 2010
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