A Beijing university student is suing Microsoft for infringing upon his privacy, demanding 1,350 yuan (US$180) in compensation and an apology printed in a national newspaper.

Peking University student Lu Feng said he installed Microsoft’s Windows Genuine Advantage software according to prompts from the Windows XP operating system on his laptop only to find the program enabled Microsoft to gather information about his computer and himself, rather than solely checking whether or not the installed Windows XP system was genuine.

Lu argued that Microsoft had violated his legal rights by providing a formal contract which had to be accepted in order to proceed with the installation.

Lu wants the court to annul the WGA installation agreement, order Microsoft to delete all his personal information and provide a software tool that can uninstall the program.

A spokesman with Microsoft China told Xinhua, “We have only just received this filing, have not had the opportunity to review it and therefore cannot comment on the specifics of the allegations.

“What we can say is that Microsoft is fully committed to letting customers control their personal information.”