A Chinese netizen's law suit against a Chinese search engine which he accuses of surreptitiously including spyware in its internet phone program was heard in the People's Court in Beijing's Haidian District on Friday.

Sun Zhongpeng says he downloaded and installed an Internet phone software "IGphone" developed by Zhongsou.com which claims to be the world's largest Chinese language search engine.

Sun, who is a member of the China Anti-Hooligan Software Alliance, told the court that after he installed the phone software the malicious software called "Internet Pig" installed itself on his computer.

Sun says he could not uninstall the software completely. He says the leftovers of the program would begin to operate automatically and slowed his computer.

He's also upset that the program is designed to monitor his activities on the Internet.

"Zhongsou might collect users' information (through the program) for commercial purposes, which infringes upon my right to privacy," Sun said.

Sun is demanding an apology from Zhongsou and compensation of 94 yuan (11.75 U.S. dollars) for his economic losses and 1,000 yuan in costs related to the case.

Zhongsou, defended itself saying Sun willingly downloaded "Internet Pig" when he agreed to install the phone software.

Zhongsou insists that the software can be uninstalled completely and that it is no longer in use.

The court did not reach a verdict on Friday.

Source: Xinhua