WhiteHouse.gov petition to stop E-Parasite/SOPA | Hacker News Reader

WhiteHouse.gov petition to stop E-Parasite/SOPA

wwws.whitehouse.gov

144 pointsmey19 comments

Have we all not yet come to the conclusion that the white house petition board is a rarely-checked suggestion box with the minute chance an intern might post a formulaic and meaningless response?

It has more value than that. It gives visibility to important issues, and to the fact that they're being ignored. And that results in news stories that increase that visibility even more. I plan to continue signing these petitions.

Yes. That's what happened with the patent petition: a meaningless response. But then someone created another petition to re-consider the patent petition. Even if we have to go in circles at some point it has to stop. Media will blog about it:

http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20111104_3070.php

and using petitions as toilet paper will not be enough.

Perhaps the exercise is a bit pro forma, but it may serve as a good way to point out their hypocrisy.

"Petition us! ((Unless it fits our PR agenda,) We'll be sure to ignore it.)"

https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/!/petition/stop-e-para...

Working link (for me at least).

from a redditor: "I heard that when a petition gets enough signatures the president will personally print it out and wipe his ass with it."

"This Section of our site is currently undergoing maintenance We appreciate your patience while we make some improvements Please check back shortly"

Page under heavy load?

Whatever the cause, you've got to admit, that is an awesome "down for maintenance" page.

More like under fascist and corporatist pressure to let the bill pass.

Owned.

Who'd have thought we don't like this bill going through? Now, listen to the people, government.

The URL link needs a token-hash at the end. I went through that when posting the link on HN some time ago:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3206604

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3198244

I didn't get much respond even though the patent issue seems as important as SOPA. Wallawe said that this petition system is better than sending hundreds of letters to congressmen:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3244559

Heh, I got there, looked my password up in Gmail and was all ready to sign the petition and then... turns out I signed it a while ago and forgot. I love it when I act consistently without realizing it.

I also love seeing this on HN--improving awareness of this issue is of utmost importance.

Sigh. I can't hide my disgust for internet petitions, their efficacy is demonstrably absent, you might as well be praying for change.

It's down.

Let everyone know about this.

nice stunt. maybe a statement against this a month ago would have been appropriate, but waiting till after its dead?

It's not dead yet: While introduced last month, Wednesday was just the first hearing regarding HR3261. The House Judiciary Committee will reconvene on it in a few weeks. (http://staff.tumblr.com/post/12930076128/a-historic-thing) It's more widely known thanks to yesterday's mass movement, but the bill is still far from what anyone could call "dead."

It's down...

Try this: https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/!/petition/stop-e-para...

A nice thought, but I honestly don't think it's worth the 30 seconds it would take me to follow the link and sign it.

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