Ryan Challenger's Website to 'Go Dark' Wednesday

Rob Zerban's Website will go dark on Wednesday, Jan. 18 as a show of solidarity against the stop online piracy act (SOPA). Zerban is a candidate for the first congressional district, and hopes to unseat incumbent Paul Ryan.

The measure seeks to prevent piracy of websites, however opponents feel the bill could mean unneccesary censorship of the internet.

"If the free internet ends, it will be a big blow to me and others who use online organizing to fight back against big media darlings like Paul Ryan. We cannot allow the free internet to fall. That is why my website will be going dark from 9AM tomorrow, January 18th, to 9PM. I hope this draws attention to what our lives would be like without a free internet.”

Visitors to the site won't see the normal campaign screen, however will be greeted with a message about SOPA and directed to a website where they can find more information.

The Stop Online Piracy Act, (SOPA), has created debate as it intends to prevent  raises serious questions of private censorship of the internet. This legislation threatens websites like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Wikipedia, eBay, LinkedIn, Yahoo!, Google, and many others, and endangers our critical engine of social and economic innovation.

"If the free internet ends, it will be a big blow to me and others who use online organizing to fight back against big media darlings like Paul Ryan," Zerban said. "We cannot allow the free internet to fall. That is why my website will be going dark from 9am tomorrow, January 18th, to 9pm. I hope this draws attention to what our lives would be like without a free internet.

Here is the text that will be displayed on the website when it goes dark:

"My campaign website is down today in support of the online community and those in my district who value the future of the free internet and who oppose SOPA (the Stop Online Piracy Act) as well as PIPA (the Protect-IP Act).