Intellectual Property Law

The Associated Press is reporting that Chinese authorities are placing 'Wanted' posters for 21 rioters in Tibet on the major Chinese web portals. Here's a link to one of the portals.

The Tibetan capital of Lhasa and other regions in China have been shaken up over anti-Chinese riots that broke out last Friday in Lhasa.

Meanwhile, bloggers in China have apparently been told by the "Chinese Internet Watching Authority" that they'll be arrested and dealt with "with the appropriate action" if they discuss the Tibetan riots. 

A site associated with a French television station says that MSN China and Yahoo both briefly ran the 'Wanted' posters. Threat Level wasn't able to verify this at the time of this post. A Friday afternoon search of both MSN and Yahoo China from a computer on the East Coast in the United States yielded nothing on the news of events in Tibet.

Meanwhile, unverified, gruesome pictures of bodies related to the incidents in Tibet are showing up on YouTube.

A Chinese blogger who was in Lhasa says the rioters burned one Chinese shopkeeper to death, and relays a story from a taxi driver who said that another Chinese student had an ear cut off.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called for restraint from both the citizens in Tibet and the Chinese authorities.

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, on a congressional delegation visit to the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama's headquarters in Dharamshala in India, called for an international investigation into the incidents in China.

But according to China's official news agency Xinhua, leaders of such freedom-loving countries such as North Korea and Syria are rallying behind China. It's currently the lead story on Xinhua's site.

Meanwhile, Tibetans in  Los  Angeles held a rally. Xeni Jardin of Boing Boing covered the event and interviewed some of the participants.

The news wires also report that the current riots  may have some expensive consequences. The  Chinese authorities are re-thinking the idea of allowing the American news networks to broadcast live from Tiananmen  Square  during the Olympic games this August. The networks apparently paid hundreds of millions of dollars for the privilege.

In other news, the Dalai Lama, it seems, also shares a pet peeve with reporters that all other leaders do. The Dalai Lama issued a terse press release today that said: " ... He also reminded the Media not to quote him out of context."

(Hat tip on the MSN and Yahoo item to Rebecca MacKinnon.)

See Also:

• Yahoo in China Hearing Begins
• Images and News of Tibet Riots Seep Onto Web, Despite Chinese Authorities' Clampdown
• Yahoo Knew More About China Journalist Subpoena Than It Told ...