Websites To Go Dark Friday Honoring Victims Of Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

A few major websites will go dark briefly on Friday, observing a national moment of silence for the victims of last week’s shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. The sites will go dark for one minute at 9:30 a.m. EST.

Although it’s not clear how many websites will participate in the blackout, over 170,000 people and sites have pledged to join the Causes.com page for the Web Goes Silent campaign, CNN reported.

“Please join in a national moment of silence in honor of the Sandy Hook victims called for by Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy. At 9:30 a.m. EST, spend several minutes reflecting quietly on this terrible tragedy and take a five-minute pause from all online activity,” reads a post on the Causes.com page.

People have been also spreading the effort by tweeting about it with the hashtag #momentforSandyHook. In addition, participating websites will show an official badge with a green ribbon on their pages during the moment of silence. Companies that want to participate in Friday’s moment of silence can sign up at webmomentofsilence.org and get special JavaScript code for that.

With the code, the sites will appear grayed out in the background with text in the foreground reading: “We are observing a National Moment of Silence for the victims of the Sandy Hook tragedy.”

According to the CNN report, well-known Silicon Valley venture capitalist Ron Conway is trying hard to promote the online moment of silence, part of a larger campaign for federal gun control legislation. The campaign also has other high-profile supporters like Ryan Seacrest, Jack Dorsey, Britney Spears, MC Hammer, Suze Orman and Tyler Florence.

ABC7 Eyewitness News tweeted using the #momentforSandyHook hashtag that some churches will ring bells 26 times Friday at 6:30 a.m., marking their participation in the campaign.

The Twitter hashtag has also showcased some other big names planning to take part in the movement. They include Jessica Biel, Mike Bloomberg, Pharrell Williams and Eva Longoria.