A GROUP of seven public interest lawyers says it will sue the maker of popular chatting software QQ for allegedly scanning users' hard disks for private information.

New anti-virus software shows that QQ is scanning users' private files, said Wang Fengchang, CEO of Fayi, a Beijing-based law-consulting website.

Wang, the lawyer group's leader, said they were starting the campaign because an increasing number of people had come forth with suspicions that their computer files had been violated.

"We received up to 100 complaints from QQ users in one single day," said Wang.

QQ is the Chinese mainland's leading free instant-messaging computerprogram that is said to have more than 100 million concurrent IM users.

The proposed lawsuit would force Tencent Inc, QQ's parent company, to quit the scanning but would not seek a financialpenalty, Wang said.

"None of us would gain any reward," he said, "but we won't stop until Tencent ceases the scanning of QQ and apologizes to its users."

In response to the criticism, Tencent issued a statement on its website on Monday, saying QQ was equipped with a common virus-detecting system to prevent viruses such as Trojans.

The statement insisted that QQ never scanned users' private information.

Wang disagreed. "The software has to gain approvals from users before scanning their system," he said, "otherwise it's violating people's privacy."

The scanning came to light when users started running the Privacy Protector, invented by Antivirus 360, which became available in China as a free download on Monday.

The software claims to show users if programs in their computers are secretly scanning their private files.

Shanghai Daily tried out Privacy Protector.

In 10 minutes, it said QQ had scanned 1,203 files, including 151 listed in bold red ink - indicating files that "involve private information," including files of MSN, Windows Live Mail, Microsoft Office and other software with no connection with QQ.

"How can a chatting software scan users' private information in their hard-disks?" asked Wang and many netizens via the Internet.

A Tencent official who refused to disclose her name said results by Privacy Protector showed that QQ was scanning only executable files, which could often be viruses in disguise and contain no private information.

Wang said more lawyers will be invited to join the lawsuit during the ongoing National Day holiday.

He hoped the group would include more than 100 lawyers from across the country. "Hopefully we will take action after the holiday," said Wang.

• lawyer [´lɔ:jə] n.律师；法学家 (初中英语单词)
• computer [kəm´pju:tə] n.计算机；电子计算器 (初中英语单词)
• program [´prəugræm] n.说明v.为...安排节目 (初中英语单词)
• financial [fi´nænʃəl] a.金融的，财政的 (初中英语单词)
• criticism [´kritisizəm] n.批评；评论(文) (初中英语单词)
• system [´sistəm] n.系统，体系，制度 (初中英语单词)
• running [´rʌniŋ] a.奔跑的；流动的 (初中英语单词)
• available [ə´veiləbəl] a.可用的；有效的 (初中英语单词)
• connection [kə´nekʃən] n.联系；关系；联运 (初中英语单词)
• disguise [dis´gaiz] vt.假装；隐瞒 n.伪装 (初中英语单词)
• contain [kən´tein] v.包含；容纳；抑制 (初中英语单词)
• holiday [´hɔlidi] n.假日，假期，节日 (初中英语单词)
• campaign [kæm´pein] n.战役；行动 vi.从军 (高中英语单词)
• penalty [´penlti] n.刑罚；惩罚；障碍 (高中英语单词)
• response [ri´spɔns] n.回答；响应 (高中英语单词)
• saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
• secretly [´si:kritli] ad.秘密地；隐蔽地 (高中英语单词)
• disclose [dis´kləuz] vt.揭露；透露；泄露 (高中英语单词)
• privacy [´praivəsi, -pri] n.隐退；独处；秘密 (英语四级单词)
• protector [prə´tektə] n.保护者；防御者 (英语四级单词)