Symantec says ‘Sorry!’ to China
p2pnet.net news:- In May, Symantec’s Norton Antivirus package disabled “millions” of PCs in China, delivering a, “heavy blow to people’s daily work and ongoing business”.
Now Symantec is offering afflicted users a “goodwill” compensation package”.
“Individuals users who were affected will have the period of validity for the anti-virus software extended by 12 months, plus free data backup and restoration software, according to a statement from Symantec,” says state news agency Xinhua.
The update to the Chinese version of the Norton software, “wrongly identified two critical files of the Microsoft XP operating system as malicious codes and deleted them, causing computers to collapse,” says the story, going on that lawyer named Liu Shihui is demanding 1,644 yuan ($213) in compensation for losses caused when his computer was paralyzed due to the update.
“Liu claimed he had to hire technicians to restore his computer system and save data on May 20 after Norton service agencies refused to help him,” says Xinhua, adding:
“A Beijing client also filed a lawsuit seeking compensation of 50,000 yuan for data lost from his laptop.
“An on-line survey by www.sina.com.cn, a leading Chinese portal website, showed on Monday evening that about 74 percent of respondents said they would think twice when buying the Norton anti-virus software.”
Also See:
heavy blow – Symantec BSOD attack on China, May 21, 2007
Xinhua – Symantec compensates Chinese users affected by faulty update, June 26, 2007
If your Net access is blocked by government restrictions, try Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies. Go here for the official download, and here for details. And if you’re Chinese and you’re looking for a way to access independent Internet news sources, try Freegate, the DIT program written to help Chinese citizens circumvent web site blocking outside of China. Download it here.
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Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local politicians. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance. Don’t just complain. Do something!
