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White House launches new online petition site

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We The People will provide an official White House response to any petition that gets 5,000 signatures in 30 days

By Alex Salta


Writing a letter to the White House addressing your frustrations and desires for the direction of the federal government has long been the domain of cranks and the tin-foil hat brigade. But the launch of a new website by the Obama administration looks to change all of that, even if the way government does business doesn't end up changing as a result.

We The People, an online petition website, is being launched by the White House, reports FastCompany.com. The site will seek to streamline citizen-to-government communications with the promise that any petition garnering 5,000 or more signatures within 30 days will receive an official response from the White House.

"I think that petitions are a well understood concept," White House director of digital strategy Macon Phillips told Fast Company. "They're named in the constitution itself, they're a big part of our democracy. They're a popular and understood way for people to come around for common concerns. There hasn't been a historic place to gather around. We thought this would be a step forward to create an efficient, effective place for online engagement."

This effort may seem like a simple yet novel concept, but it is hardly the first time a government has undertaken such an effort. Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's administration launched the "10 Downing Street Petition Site" powered by website developers MySociety. Blair's successor David Cameron eventually discontinued the site, but re-launched a similar platform managed by Downing Street's in-house tech team.

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  1. jkenjohnson's Avatar
    Let's start an increase in IFT's petition.

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