Upgrade request rejected on security grounds

Upgrading software is an easy procedure normally done at the touch of a button or the click of a mouse, unless such a procedure allegedly threatens mankind with weapons of mass destruction as a Chinese student discovered to his amazement.

The application by Antoine Duan, 21, to upgrade his Photoshop software was initially approved, but then rejected, by a US-based company he bought the software from. The company cited US Exporting Administration Regulations.

Duan is a student at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, also known as Beihang University, which is on a technology ban list compiled by the US Department of Commerce.