[LINK] [UK] Parliament ponders the weight of e-petitions

[Bernard Robertson-Dunn]

Parliament ponders the weight of e-petitions
Westminster goes all Web 2.0
By John Oates
The Register
Tuesday 15th January 2008 15:48 GMT
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/15/econsultation_epetitions_parliament/

A House of Commons committee meets tomorrow to gather evidence on the 
wisdom of giving electronic petitions the same status as paper petitions.

The House of Commons Procedure Committee will gather to hear evidence 
tomorrow afternoon from Tom Steinberg, founder of mySociety and the man 
behind the Prime Minister's e-petitions site, and digital media adviser 
Tom Loosemore. A further evidence session will take place on 30 January.

In line with the spirit of the inquiry, the committee has set up an 
e-consultation on the issue of e-petitions, though to date the public 
doesn't seem to have leapt into this brave new world. At the time of 
writing there are a paltry nine posts on three subjects.

One poster complains about their experience of the e-petitions run by 
the Prime Minister's office.

Poster "Perspective Vortex" said that at the end of the consultation 
period the government emailed everyone who had signed up opposing 
replacement of Trident nuclear missiles with a message in support of 
government policy.

The poster explained: "In essence, my petition was used to create a 
mailing list to assist the government in lobbying the public; I consider 
myself to have been duped into assisting interest groups opposed to my 
petition... I consider the e-petitioning system to be a mendacious 
gimmick with the overall effect of generating political disengagement 
and cynicism."

10 Downing Street's e-petitions site launched in November 2006 and is 
still in beta, but has at least gained public support - 41,000 people 
signed up recently to make Jeremy Clarkson Prime Minister. The Scottish 
Parliament and several local authorities have also experimented with 
e-petitions.

To put your views across you can go to the committee forum here 
<http://forums.parliament.uk/e-petitions/index.php?index,1>.

Paper petitions can be presented formally by a Member of Parliament 
during an adjournment debate. Petitions can also be presented informally 
by dropping them in a green bag behind the Speaker's Chair.

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Regards
brd

Bernard Robertson-Dunn
Sydney Australia
brd at iimetro.com.au