The Superfish that swam into many user’s PCs is proving to be a nightmare for Lenovo (HKG:0992).
The PC giant is facing two lawsuits over the Superfish adware (or malware depending on your definition) that it included with some computers it shipped earlier this year.
The first, a class-action suit, alleges that Superfish negatively impacted the performance of plaintiff’s computers through injecting ads into browsers. The lawsuit says that affected individuals should receive compensation of $10,000 each.
The second suit is an individual suit by blogger Jessica Bennett, that seeks the option to also be pursued as a class action suit and seeks a jury trial.
Bennet alleges in her suit:
Defendants’ Spyware and popup advertisements decrease productivity by requiring that hours be spent figuring out how to get them off of a computer, closing advertising windows, and waiting for a slower machine to operate. Furthermore, computer users are forced to keep their computers running longer (due to the slowed performance) which utilizes more electricity, decreases the useful life of a computer, and causes increased Internet access charges. The cumulative impact of not only multiple ads, but also the threat of future ads and monitoring, impedes computer usage.
For its part Lenovo has apologized and has offered users a tool to remove Superfish altogether.
