I didn't realize that anyone could create petitions on WhiteHouse.gov. Were it not for the casual writing style, I might have thought this was an official petition from the White House.
Whitehouse.gov petition to veto SOPA
21–30 of 84 posts
Re: Whitehouse.gov petition to veto SOPA
#228k votes... that is just sad...
Re: Whitehouse.gov petition to veto SOPA
#23I expect that this petition will be just as effective as all the others.
It's a data point on public opinion. Remember that all the lobbying money spent in the US is there only to swing public opinion ~10% on an election. In the truth-vacuum of DC, it's pretty relevant.
Remember that all the lobbying money spent in the US is there only to swing public opinion ~10% on an election.
OT, but is it then reasonable to infer that the increasing closeness of Presidential elections over the past couple of decades may have simply been a cost-cutting operation by the lobbying industry?
Re: Whitehouse.gov petition to veto SOPA
#24Every time I've voted on a whitehouse.gov petition, I've gotten an email 6 months later saying why the petition will be completely ignored, answering none of the points the petition brought up. The petition system is an ineffectual smokescreen.
Seems quite effective to me if it keeps the signers from taking any additional action for 6 months.
Its likely doing exactly what those setting it intended.
Re: Whitehouse.gov petition to veto SOPA
#25I didn't realize that anyone could create petitions on WhiteHouse.gov. Were it not for the casual writing style, I might have thought this was an official petition from the White House. Neat. https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions
That's by design.
Re: Whitehouse.gov petition to veto SOPA
#26I created an account in order to sign this, but when I try to sign in I get a 404 -- using Chrome. Anyone else get that?
It'll let you in as soon as it's done downloading your email.
Re: Whitehouse.gov petition to veto SOPA
#27The WH petition system is to political activism what Twitter is to people's social commentary... effectively redirect everything to /dev/null and make them think they've made their voices heard (although I think that this particular one is quite clever).
Re: Whitehouse.gov petition to veto SOPA
#28I created an account in order to sign this, but when I try to sign in I get a 404 -- using Chrome. Anyone else get that?
In Safari every time I try to sign in, it just redirects me to the page I was already on without signing me in.
This happens to me in every browser I've tried (Opera, Chrome, FF, and ELinks). Maybe we can start a petition to... oh wait...
Re: Whitehouse.gov petition to veto SOPA
#29I was on a conference call w/ Zoe Lofgren (CA congress woman who is on the Judiciary fighting the hell out of this bill) and a bunch of NYC tech companies last weekend and she said petitions are essentially ignored, and instead to make phone calls to your reps and directly into the capital. This isn't to say don't sign this, but if you are really concerned, the absolute bottom line is phone calls. Anything you can do…
Be sure to read the petition -- unlike most of them, it's actually smart political commentary: It mocks SOPA by having whitehouse.gov itself link to a website that's infringing copyright. The joke is that whitehouse.gov could itself be removed from the DNS system under SOPA.
This is the first use of the White House petitioning system that I think is actually really clever. (Honorable mention: Petition to Please Take Petitions Seriously.)
Re: Whitehouse.gov petition to veto SOPA
#30I was on a conference call w/ Zoe Lofgren (CA congress woman who is on the Judiciary fighting the hell out of this bill) and a bunch of NYC tech companies last weekend and she said petitions are essentially ignored, and instead to make phone calls to your reps and directly into the capital. This isn't to say don't sign this, but if you are really concerned, the absolute bottom line is phone calls. Anything you can do…
Be sure to read the petition -- unlike most of them, it's actually smart political commentary: It mocks SOPA by having whitehouse.gov itself link to a website that's infringing copyright. The joke is that whitehouse.gov could itself be removed from the DNS system under SOPA. This is the first use of the White House petitioning system that I think is actually really clever. (Honorable mention: Petition to Please Take…
I did. I think 'cute' is a better term.
Rest assured this will get just as ignored as any other. Please call your rep.