(CNN) -- Wikipedia once again is diving into Internet politics. The free encyclopedia on Tuesday temporarily shut down access to most of its Russian-language site in protest of proposed legal action in Russia that it says would result in Internet censorship. Visitors to ru.wikipedia.org on Tuesday saw a black censorship bar over the Wikipedia logo and a message asking them to imagine a world without free access to knowledge. In January, Wikipedia shuttered its English sites for 24 hours in protest of anti-piracy laws that were being discussed in the U.S. Congress. That action was cited as evidence of a new wave of political power for the technology and Internet industries. Google and others joined in that protest, which essentially derailed two anti-piracy bills in the United States.
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The Russian-language Wikipedia site shuts down in protest of a law
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Wikipedia says proposed changes in that country would lead to censorship
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The site's shutdown is temporary
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In January, Wikipedia jumped into U.S. politics with a similar act
"The agency will have the right to add items to the blacklist, as will the courts, which already have the authority to ban extremist and other types of content that violates @placeholder legislation."