NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Worse than useless award: White House launches "e-petition" system
Worse than useless award: White House launches "e-petition" system
http://j.mp/qnOVyB (This message in Google+)
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http://j.mp/pjvvGQ ("Federal Times" Article)
"A new online platform set to launch on whitehouse.gov will allow
people to create, share and sign petitions "asking the Obama
administration to take action on a range of important issues facing
our country," the White House announced Thursday."
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I'm not a fan of e-petitions in general -- I get many requests to send
out notes promoting this or that petition, and I turn virtually all
of them down. E-petitions are just too easily manipulated and spoofed --
there are valid reasons why most legislators ignore them.
The new White House "We the People" (who comes up with these names?)
e-petition system promises to be no better, and its high profile will
make it an instant target for every interest group hoping to
demonstrate its force -- and also an attractive target for hackers of
all stripes.
Perhaps this is actually a ploy to promote government-linked Internet
identity systems (I'm just kidding ... I think).
But overall, "We the People" would appear to be a useless project --
perhaps worse than useless by claiming it can mean anything
substantive.
The "13-years-old and older" cutoff is meaningless -- anyone can click
that check box or provide any birth date they choose. The requirement
of 5K signatures within 30 days to get a response is also relatively
easily subverted. Verification of fake email identities is trivial
unless captchas are used, and sometimes even then. Even getting 167
real people per day to flood the system for any given topic will
generally be fairly simple with a bit of effort.
How many petitions does the White House really want to see asking about
the legalization of pot? The administration knows full well what all
the topics of interest are, and polling data quite accurately shows
the levels of support.
It's hard to view this White House e-petition system as anything other
than a publicity stunt. This is unfortunately characteristic of this
administration, which has been long on image and short on standing up
to fight for the hard choices that would help ordinary people in this
country -- people who are tired of seeing their health and finances
being ruined mostly for the benefit of the privileged few, who seem not
to care whether the "common people" live or die, so long as the
Dom Perignon flows freely.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org
Founder:
- Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
- Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org
- PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://vortex.com/g+lauren
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com