China's Internet Mess

From Newsweek:

"... the lawsuit underscores the murky nature of the Internet in China, where search-engine companies, in an effort to grab a slice of the Internet advertising pie, resort to tactics that would not be tolerated in the West. In particular, Baidu and Yahoo, two of the biggest search firms in China, are accused in lawsuits of routinely using spyware—a type of software that installs itself surreptitiously on users' PCs—as a way to drive users to their sites.

Although spyware is not illegal in China, its rampant use has turned Web surfing into a supremely frustrating experience. And because spyware is associated with illegal activities like identity theft in addition to the merely annoying pop-up ads, it may be undermining consumer confidence in the Web."