Chinese Internet addict beaten to death by camp counselors

John Biggs

Biggs is the East Coast Editor of TechCrunch. Biggs has written for the New York Times, InSync, USA Weekend, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Money and a number of other outlets on technology and wristwatches. He is the former editor-in-chief of Gizmodo.com and lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. You can Tweet him here and G+ him here. Email him directly at... → Learn More

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

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Another day, another death in China by overzealous personnel. A boy of 16 was beaten to death at an “Internet Addiction” camp when adult counselers became agitated and beat him during treatment. The “camp” is currently closed and the local government is investigating the occurrence.

The WSJ is reporting that there is currently a country-wide debate about the true meaning of Internet Addiction and if camps like these are truly the only solution.

A teenager sent by his parents to a boot camp to cure his Internet addiction died after he was beaten by camp supervisors, police in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region claimed yesterday.

The three teachers who allegedly beat Deng Senshan, 16, were detained by local police Sunday, Deng Fei, the boy’s father, a businessman from Ziyuan county, told the Global Times yesterday.

“We are investigating a case where a high school student was beaten to death by his camp supervisors. The case is still under investigation,” a police officer at the Jiangnan branch of Nanning Public Security Bureau said.

I’m the first to admit that the Internet is a harsh mistress but, again, it’s not worth killing over.

via GlobalTimes

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