2nd China internet boot camp beating investigated
Last Updated: Wednesday, August 19, 2009 | 12:03 PM ET
CBC News
A 14-year-old boy in China is in serious condition after he was beaten at an internet rehabilitation camp, state media reported Wednesday.
The incident comes days after the death of 15-year-old Deng Senshan in a similar incident at a different camp.
The parents of Pu Liang told the China Daily they sent their son to a training camp near Chengdu, capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan, earlier this month to treat his internet addiction.
The boy was taken to hospital last week with kidney failure after he was reportedly beaten. The boy's father, Pu Shiwei, alleged to the China Daily that his son was beaten by counsellors and students at the camp.
Police have detained a counsellor who ran the camp, the report said. Children at the camp beat another boy, Xiang Pan, at the instruction of one of camp's counsellors, Xiang's mother alleged to the paper.
The unregistered camp has since been closed and its patients sent home, the paper reported.
Methods at camps called into question
China has struggled in recent years with how to deal with what the government sees as a growing internet addiction problem among its estimated 300 million internet users, particularly teenagers.
According to the China Youth Internet Association, China has 10 million teenage web addicts, the China Daily said.
The association said there are at least 400 private internet rehabilitation clinics across China, but the military methods of these camps have been called into question since the death of Deng Senshan.
The camps are not the only method of dealing with growing internet use that has been controversial.
In July, the China Daily reported the country's Ministry of Health had banned the use of electroshock therapy as a treatment method after reports surfaced of a clinic in Linyi, Shandong province, that used the method.
In May, China ordered computer manufacturers to install internet filtering software they said would block violent and obscene material, but privacy advocates argued could be used to block dissenting opinions or content deemed politically objectionable.
The government delayed and later said the plan was optional after receiving pressure from hardware manufacturers and U.S. trade representatives.
