You may remember the work of Graffiti Research Lab, a group of free-speech tech geeks who brought their laser graffiti technology - projecting graffiti-like images with a light pen onto big buildings - to this year's Sundance Film Festival. (Here's some video of their handiwork in Park City.)

Now the founder of G.R.L., James Powderly (at left) of Brooklyn, was detained by Chinese officials in Beijing around 3 a.m. Tuesday morning (Beijing time), according to Students for a Free Tibet. He was about to employ a new piece of protest technology, a L.A.S.E.R. Stencil, to beam a pro-Tibet message onto a building somewhere in Beijing.

Soon after Powderly's detention, five American protesters with a lighted "Free Tibet" banner - using L.E.D.'s developed by Graffiti Research Lab - were detained at Beijing's Olympic Park. They got the banner unfurled for about 20 seconds before the authorities got them.

Labels: Olympics, politics