Great Firewall of China 'contains pirated code'

A US software maker is suing China and seven major computer makers on accusations of pirating its Cybersitter content filtering software.

The federal lawsuit filed in Los Angeles by Cybersitter seeks $2.2 billion (£1.37 billion).

The company alleges that the Chinese copied its codes and incorporated them into software used to block Chinese citizens' access to sites deemed politically undesirable by the government.

Cybersitter was designed to help parents filter content seen by children. Seven computer manufacturers, including Sony, Lenovo, and Toshiba, also were sued for distributing the Chinese program with PCs sold in the country.