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China Alleged To Use Prisoners In Lucrative Internet Gaming

Posted by samzenpus on from the farm-for-freedom dept.

SoyQueSoy pointed out an article that reveals it's not all fun, but forced games for some Chinese prisoners. It is alleged that after a day of hard labor some inmates are forced to work through the night as gold farmers. "Prison bosses made more money forcing inmates to play games than they do forcing people to do manual labor," [prisoner] Liu told the Guardian. "There were 300 prisoners forced to play games. We worked 12-hour shifts in the camp. I heard them say they could earn 5,000-6,000rmb [£470-570] a day. We didn't see any of the money. The computers were never turned off."

18 of 313 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Seriously by rhook · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I guess you missed the part about them being forced to gold mine all night after a long day of hard labor. Are people skipping the summary now too?

  2. Re:Seriously by blair1q · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In a country where you can be jailed for bitching to the government, do you really think that the bosses of the prisons are at all independent of the power structure?

    And the fact that exploitation of human desperation is common does not make it right, in or out of prison. China's brand of socialism is bullshit. It's plain fascism, where workers are cattle and the government gets all the value they add.

  3. US employs 80,000 prisoners for labor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/may2000/pris-m08.shtml

    "There are presently 80,000 inmates in the US employed in commercial activity, some earning as little as 21 cents an hour."

    "In addition, during the last 20 years more than 30 states have passed laws permitting the use of convict labor by commercial enterprises. These programs now exist in 36 states."

    "Prisoners who refuse to work under these conditions are labeled “uncooperative” and risk losing time off for “good behavior,” as well as privileges such as library access and recreation."

    1. Re:US employs 80,000 prisoners for labor by TheCouchPotatoFamine · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This is the ultimate sad truth, that white america (hey that's me!) allows the laws of this country and the will of racism to subjugate and enslave people, NO DAMN DIFFERENT THEN ANY SAVAGE ERA.

      I've seen the dark side of this, and let me tell you, arm chair nerd reading this, that YOU are guilty of supporting slavery. YOU are complicit in the wonton inhumane and completely barbaric treatment of beings as human as you..

      and you'll make some joke about how its "PMITA" prison and say it could never happen to you.

      How wrong, how totally and sadly wrong, you are.

      --
      CS majors know the time/space tradeoff, but they never get taught the 3rd, crucial, tradeoff of the set: comprehension!
    2. Re:US employs 80,000 prisoners for labor by mirix · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That has been deemed fine, as the powers that be decided that only hard labour is cruel. Sewing for a few dollars a day is apparently fine. My real problem with it is the loaning to commercial enterprise, seems like a conflict of interest for a few parties involved, which can lead to, yeah, you know... If it's truly voluntary and not benefiting to private outfits I think it's fair enough. or if working for private enterprise, the outfit they are contracting for pays market wage, and it goes to a charity if they don't want the prisoners to collect. That way there is no advantage for the outfit, no kickback to the prison, etc.

      Wouldn't mind seeing hard labour come back for violent offences myself, at least for recidivists. Some folks you just can't reach and all that.

      --
      Sent from my PDP-11
    3. Re:US employs 80,000 prisoners for labor by TheCouchPotatoFamine · · Score: 4, Insightful

      but they are NOT some rapist, some pedophile. See how programmed you are. It's people just like you, when the cops want to meet their quota, when they don't like you, when they just had a bay day. There are TENS of THOUSANDS of people better then you in jail, dude, believe it. But keep it up thinking everyone in jail deserves it. When it's your turn, you can tell it to yourself at night when your starving.

      --
      CS majors know the time/space tradeoff, but they never get taught the 3rd, crucial, tradeoff of the set: comprehension!
  4. Some people never learn by lucm · · Score: 5, Funny

    So that former prison guard is in jail for being a whistleblower, and now he is whistleblowing again. Tsk tsk.

    --
    lucm, indeed.
  5. Re:Seriously by pla · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I guess you missed the part about them being forced to gold mine all night after a long day of hard labor. Are people skipping the summary now too?

    No, just ignoring the parts that make no sense whatsoever.

    If I have you as a slave, and you can make me $100/12hrs doing manual labor or $500/12hrs goldfarming... Do you seriously think I'd waste half your income-generating day having you fill potholes?

    The "after" makes no sense when they could farm gold for both shifts and make their jailers 66% ($600 vs $1000) more per day.

  6. Re:Seriously by rhook · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They still have to answer to their superiors when China's projects are not being completed with slave labor.

  7. A variant of this happens in Nevada by straponego · · Score: 4, Interesting
    This is according to a friend of mine who used to tend bar at a Reno casino. I don't know how much has changed since then; maybe a local can tell us more. Slot machines in Nevada are regulated and required to pay out a certain percentage over time. This means that the longer one type of slot at a casino doesn't pay out, the higher the odds are that they will soon. Once a casino got to the point where a payoff was probable, a bus would pull up full of compulsive gamblers, all wearing the same windbreakers. They'd sit at every machine in the casino and play until someone hit the jackpot. These people were not allowed to keep their winnings (or not much of them), but their habit was paid for.

    Since they never tipped, the bartenders hated them. Whenever they saw the bus pull up, they'd place drinks at the slots to reserve the spots.

    Anyway, wherever there is money you will find corruption. Rule of law (applied equably), transparency, and cultural values are all that mitigate this. The only reason this doesn't happen in American for-profit prisons is that the money isn't good enough, yet. But the dollar continue to drop. Your kids might gold-farm for the Chinese.

    1. Re:A variant of this happens in Nevada by FunkSoulBrother · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Your friend is full of shit, slot machines pay out consistently over time due to math. It could literally jackpot 10 times in a row or never in the machines lifetime, it's just freakishly unlikely.

    2. Re:A variant of this happens in Nevada by TheRealMindChild · · Score: 3, Informative

      Actually, no. If a machine hits jackpot twice even like that, they would yank the machine from the floor.

      --

      "When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
  8. FARMING for gold? How 2008ish! by SeaFox · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Any minute now we'll get the BitCoin tie-in for this article.

    Any minute now...
    I'm waiting for it.

  9. Re:Seriously by LordLimecat · · Score: 5, Informative

    Just clicking away seems like a breeze compared to that.

    Lets see what the article says...
    "If I couldn't complete my work quota, they would punish me physically. They would make me stand with my hands raised in the air and after I returned to my dormitory they would beat me with plastic pipes. We kept playing until we could barely see things,"

    Yea, sounds super easy.

  10. Re:Seriously by countertrolling · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's plain fascism, where workers are cattle...

    Well, you wouldn't have 'Everyday Low Prices' without it..

    --
    For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
  11. A variant of this happens in Bellevue, WA by PPH · · Score: 5, Interesting

    We have a mall with a lottery ticket booth. On occasion we get a whole crew of people (old, immigrants, hobo-looking) playing large volumes of scratch tickets. The mob boss (big fat guy in a cowboy hat) sits nearby, keeping an eye on his people.

    It's a money laundering operation. It doesn't have to pay back 100 cents on the dollar. It just has to be competitive with other methods of converting 'dirty' cash into clean.

    One thing that makes the entire operation pretty obvious: There's a food court, Starbucks and whatnot there. In any other setting, that would be a magnet for the local cops. But not here. If they've got business in the mall, they go in quickly, take care of it and get out. Fast. Evidently, there's an agreement for them to stay out.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  12. Re:Seriously by wisty · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm guessing that NOBODY makes 5000 RMB a day gold mining. That's almost $1000 US! Or 1 month's salary for a skilled professional, or a semi-skilled worker in a dangerous job.

    5000 a day may have been for a large team. 60 prisoners making 85 a day? And the boss gets 5000. It could have been a lucky day when some guy found a +100 sword of ass-kicking. No idea, really.

    But if you could make 5000 a day gold farming, I'd do it, and I hate those soul-sucking games. Cruel and unusual punishment, indeed.

  13. Re:Seriously by makomk · · Score: 3, Informative

    You must be living in a different universe to the rest of us, because in this one there's a massive - and massively profitable - slave labour industry in US prisons.