VNU Business Publications
vnunet.com
2 February 2007 Friday

UK e-petitions get one millionth signature

by Iain Thomson

Downing Street claims landmark in e-government

The UK government’s electronic petition system has received its one
millionth signatory.

The system has attracted over 2,000 petitions since going live in
October, covering a wide range of topics. The most popular is against
road pricing, which has pulled in over 600,000 signatures.

"We welcome this landmark in our electronic petitions service, which
is proving to be a popular way for people to get their views heard,"
said a Downing Street spokesman.

"We look forward to further developing the service in the coming
months to help citizens engage with the work of government."

Although the petitions website is regularly monitored for bogus
topics, a number have crept through. These include:

1. Replacing the national anthem with Spandau Ballet’s Gold (2,067
signatures)

2. Recommending the Queen to confer a knighthood on [Queen guitarist]
Brian May (404)

3. Removing an alleged Armenian Genocide portion of the Imperial War
Museum Holocaust exhibition (242)

4. Acknowledging fetishism and sadomasochism as sane sexual practices
(81)

5. Getting Tony Blair to read these petitions (13)

6. Campaigning to stop John Humphreys interrupting people (six)