Ru.Wikipedia.org goes dark in protest

MOSCOW, July 10 (UPI) -- Wikipedia's Russian site went dark Tuesday morning in protest of proposed legislation that would allow government to create a blacklist of Internet Web sites.

The site's front page reads: "Wikipedia community protests against censorship, which threatens free knowledge opened for mankind."

ITAR-Tass reported the site would remain dark through the day, as the State Duma was scheduled to vote on the amendment to Russia's "Act for Information."

If passed, the act would create a federal agency to maintain the blacklist. Courts would be able to add sites to the blacklist as well. Supporters of the bill say it would empower the government to crack down on child pornography and extremist sites.