Is ad-blocking illegal? Coral QQ author arrested

Chen Shoufu, the author of Coral QQ (珊瑚虫), a popular IM add-on, was arrested at the end of August for infringing on Tencent’s intellectual property.

Tencent QQ, the dominant IM service in China, annoys some users by serving up ads and keeping contact locations secret. By installing Coral QQ, users can block QQ’s ads and gain the ability to see the IP address and geographical location of their contacts.

This isn’t the first time that Coral QQ has tangled with Tencent. Chen (who goes by the online handle “Soff”), originally wrote Coral QQ as patched version of Tencent’s software, but ran into opposition from the company. Though free, QQ isn’t open source, so when Tencent complained about IP violations in 2003, Chen stopped providing downloads of his patched version of QQ and promised not to alter Tencent code in the future.

Chen, a 28-year-old instructor at the Beijing Institute of Technology’s computer center, later hit upon the idea of offering ad-blocking and IP-resolving in a non-invasive patch, and subsequently started offering downloads once again.

Last year, he was sued by Tencent for infringement; his company provided the non-invasive patch as part of a complete download package that also included Tencent’s software. The judgment required Chen to pay 100,010 yuan (US$12,500), but it reportedly was delayed two months because of behind-the-scenes disagreements over the value of the IP that was infringed—Tencent had asked for half a million yuan.

The lawsuit did not mention the company behind the software, however, and according to the Personal Computer Digest, Chen took steps to formally distance himself from Coral QQ while still maintaining control over the whole operation. Additionally, although Coral QQ helps users avoid Tencent advertising, it began to strike commercial deals, and it now includes an astonishing variety of adware, malware, and spamware of its own.

Here’s a sensationalized report from Shenzhen TV’s “Case Tracking” program (案件追踪), complete with dramatic pacing, one-sided quotes, and a soundtrack pulled from Prison Break and some Jerry Bruckheimer movie:

Lots of netizens have a soft spot in their heart for Coral QQ and see Tencent as an unreasonable behemoth out to crush the little guy. Tech blogger William Long is amazed at this reaction; he sees the case as cut-and-dried infringement, particularly since Chen was ordered to cease and desist last year.

Keso wonders whether Coral QQ’s technology is infringement in and of itself :

Leaving aside the issue of Coral QQ’s malware (it is indeed deplorably, but you can choose not to use Coral QQ), and looking solely at the screening of QQ’s ads: is modifying software functionality piracy? Is it a criminal offense? As far as I know, when the young Norwegian hacker Jon Lech Johansen cracked the DVD IP protection scheme (CSS), not only did he not become a criminal, but he went on to crack the protection schemes of a whole group of famous products like QuickTime, iTunes, Google Video, and the iPhone; this technical genius caused headaches for lots of major corporations. Is Tencent more deserving of protection than the entire DVD industry?

If removing ads from QQ is a criminal offense, then should they arrest all companies and individuals that make plug-ins that screen ads, including Microsoft and Google (both of which offer pop-up blocking functionality)?

Protection vs. anti-protection and cracking vs. anti-cracking are long-term technical conflicts. Windows occupies an almost unshakeable position in the Chinese market, not because of Microsoft’s successful marketing strategy but because various cracking techniques have allowed us to use its pricey software without paying. Before he became inflated with selfish desires, Chen Shoufu (writer of Coral QQ), was a powerful promotional tool for Tencent QQ. He helped those people who wanted to use QQ but hated the software become Tencent users. A friendly force has now come under attack, so I say that Coral QQ is just an unlucky bastard.

Off-topic, Shenzen has always cultivated narrow-minded companies, from the time when Huawei sent its own employees to prison, to FoxConn suing the reporters, and now Tencent getting the author of Coral QQ arrested. You can’t help but feel impressed at how good Shenzhen is for business. Or at least, the local courts and police are all in line behind those major companies. Unlucky Coral QQ just had to go up against a Shenzhen company. It had it coming.

Keso alludes to a rumor that surfaced on Thursday—IT news site 17Tech cited an inside informant who said that Tencent threatened to move its offices out of Shenzhen unless the police acted. The company denied the rumor the following day.

There are still a number of options available if you want to block ads from your QQ installation. See the link to the Personal Computer Digest article for a chart rating them feature and malware abuse. Additionally, in an article that has drawn heaps of abuse from Coral QQ fans, Coral QQ BBS editor Pikachu recommends LiteIM.