An
Internet petition is a form of
petitionA petition is a request to change something, most commonly made to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer....
posted on a
websiteA website is a collection of related web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that are addressed with a common domain name or IP address in an Internet Protocol-based network...
. Visitors to the website in question can add their email addresses or names, and after enough "signatures" have been collected, the resulting letter may be delivered to the subject of the petition, usually via
e-mailElectronic mail, often abbreviated as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages, designed primarily for human use...
.
The format makes it easy for people to make a petition at any time. Several websites allow anyone with computer access to make one to protest any cause, such as stopping planned development of a
wetlandA wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with moisture either permanently or seasonally. Such areas may also be covered partially or completely by shallow pools of water. Wetlands include swamps, marshes, and bogs, among others. The water found in wetlands can be saltwater, freshwater,...
or closure of a
storeRetailing consists of the sale of goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be individuals...
.
An
Internet petition is a form of
petitionA petition is a request to change something, most commonly made to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer....
posted on a
websiteA website is a collection of related web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that are addressed with a common domain name or IP address in an Internet Protocol-based network...
. Visitors to the website in question can add their email addresses or names, and after enough "signatures" have been collected, the resulting letter may be delivered to the subject of the petition, usually via
e-mailElectronic mail, often abbreviated as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages, designed primarily for human use...
.
Pros and cons
The format makes it easy for people to make a petition at any time. Several websites allow anyone with computer access to make one to protest any cause, such as stopping planned development of a
wetlandA wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with moisture either permanently or seasonally. Such areas may also be covered partially or completely by shallow pools of water. Wetlands include swamps, marshes, and bogs, among others. The water found in wetlands can be saltwater, freshwater,...
or closure of a
storeRetailing consists of the sale of goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be individuals...
. Online petitions are more likely to be abused due to the anonymous nature of the signer.
But the ease of such a format leads to problems. Because it is easy to set up, it can attract frivolous causes, or even joke ones. One example of an online petition intended to be taken as a joke was a petition demanding the shutdown of an online petition site.
The people who electronically sign the petition can also come into question and may invalidate the legitimacy of the petition itself. Without verification via a confirmation
e-mailElectronic mail, often abbreviated as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages, designed primarily for human use...
or some other form of verification that can be looked at and confirmed, one could easily pad a petition with false names and e-mails. To compare in the real world, a local government may require of a protesting group tackling a problem to not only require the signatures of people who sign their petitions, but also their printed name, and a way to verify the signature (either with a phone number or identification number via a
driver's licenseA driver's license, driver license, driver licence, or driving licence is an official document which states that a person may operate a motorized vehicle, such as a motorcycle, car, truck or a bus. The laws relating to driver's licensing vary between jurisdictions...
or a
passportA passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth...
) to ensure that the signature is legitimate and not falsified by the protestors.
Many legitimate
non-governmental organizationNon-governmental organization is a term that has become widely accepted as referring to a legally constituted, non-governmental organization created by natural or legal persons with no participation or representation of any government...
s (NGOs) shun online petitions for various reasons.
Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International is an international secular non-governmental organisation which defines its mission as "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated." Founded in London in 1961, AI...
's reputation is based on the written letters its members write to help people all around the world. The track record of online petitions is also another reason why many NGOs shun them, as there are very few examples of this form of petition achieving its objective, and critics frequently cite it as an example of
slacktivismSlacktivism is a portmanteau formed out of the words slacker and activism. The word is considered a pejorative term that describes "feel-good" measures, in support of an issue or social cause, that have little or no practical effect other than to make the person doing it feel satisfaction...
.
In February 2007 an online petition against road pricing and car tracking on the
UK Prime MinisterThe Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the political leader of the United Kingdom and the Head of Her Majesty's Government...
's own website attracted over 1.8 million e-signatures from a population of 60 million people. The site was official but experimental at the time. Shocked government ministers were unable to backtrack on the site's existence in the face of national news coverage of the phenomenon. The incident has demonstrated both the potential and pitfalls of online e-Government petitions applied to a mid-term government. It remains to be seen if policy will be permanently affected.
E-mail petitions
A similar form of petition is the e-mail petition. This petition may be a simple
chain letterA typical chain letter consists of a message that attempts to induce the recipient to make a number of copies of the letter and then pass them on to as many recipients as possible...
, requesting that its users forward them to a large number of people in order to meet a goal or to attain a falsely promised reward. Other times the message will contain a form to be printed and filled out, or a link to an offsite online petition which the recipient can sign. Usually, the e-mail petition focuses on a specific cause that is meant to cause outrage or ire, centering on a timely political or cultural topic.
Electronic petitions and e-government
Some government agencies and officials, such as The
Scottish ParliamentThe Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood" , is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
with the
e-PetitionerITC's e-Petitioner is an online petition system that allows citizens to raise and sign a petition, read background information on the issue, and add comments to an online forum associated with each petition...
system (from 1999), the Queensland Parliament in Australia , and Bristol City Council in the U.K have adopted electronic petitioning systems as a way to display a commitment to their constituents and provide greater accessibility into government operations.
Other groups are attempting to establish electronic petitioning as a way to streamline and make more accessible, existing citizens'
initiativeIn political science, the initiative provides a means by which a petition signed by a certain minimum number of registered voters can force a public vote on a proposed statute, constitutional amendment, charter amendment or ordinance, or, in its minimal form, to simply oblige the executive or...
processes.
External links
- Petitions category at Open Directory Project
The Open Directory Project , also known as Dmoz , is a multilingual open content directory of World Wide Web links owned by Netscape that is constructed and maintained by a community of volunteer editors.ODP uses a hierarchical ontology scheme for organizing site listings...