Monday, August 10, 2009

China Detains 13 people: Death At Internet Addiction Camp

Chinese police have detained 13 people for questioning, following the death by beating of a teenager at an Internet addiction camp in southern China.

The Qihang Salvation Training Camp, one of many boot camp-style centers for Internet obsession in China, was 'found to be unlicensed' and closed down on Friday, the official Xinhua news agency said.


Parents of 122 other students took them home from the camp in Guangxi province, whilst police investigate the case.

Deng Senshan killed
A week earlier, a 15-year-old boy Deng Senshan, was allegedly put in solitary confinement, scolded and beaten to death within one day of his arrival at the camp. The boy's father found his bloodied body in a local hospital, where camp staff said they had sent him because of a severe fever.

Family Divisions
Other Internet addiction camps in China are licensed and subsidised by the government. Conservative officials blame hugely popular online games like World of Warcraft for getting teens hooked on the Web, harming their grades in school, creating anti-social behaviour and causing divisions in the family, especially with their parents.

Shock Treatment
Some of the camps have used shock treatment and aversion therapy on students, but China has since banned this practice, last month.

Cybercrime

Separately, China in recent weeks detained two hackers for stealing 450 million won (US$368,000) from South Korean bank accounts, Xinhua said.

The suspects, based in a Chinese city that borders North Korea, had stolen the money from 86 South Korean nationals over more than a year, it said. South Korean police had asked China to help crack the cross-border case, the report said.

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