technical glitches and open government issues associated with the White House's new We The People petition website

6 views

Skip to first unread message

J.H. Snider

unread,

Nov 1, 2011, 7:19:14 PM11/1/11

to governmen...@googlegroups.com, edemocr...@googlegroups.com, berkman-...@googlegroups.com

All,

(Apologies for cross-posting.)

During recent weeks the Huffington Post has published three commentaries of mine on the White House’s new We The People petition website. The one published yesterday, The Case of the Missing White House Petitions, raises some open government issues associated with the website, which is why I thought it might interest you.

What should be the White House’s archival policy regarding petitions that have been on the website more than 30 days and failed to get the required 25,000 signatures? Should they be archived and publicly accessible online or removed from the website and only accessible via a FOIA request? Should the White House disclose the amount of time the petition website has been down? Should it acknowledge embarrassing browser display problems pointed out by frustrated users or keep users in the dark while, hopefully, its technical staff quietly works to correct the problems? What should be the threshold for public disclosure of technical problems? If a problem (such as captcha text and a user registration button invisibly displayed off screen) prevents tens or hundreds of thousands of potential users from using a government website as intended, how should such a problem be disclosed? It seems to me that the bigger the technical glitch, the greater the incentive the IT department and spinmeisters might have to downplay it.

My three commentaries on the new White House We The People petition website are listed below:

1. Snider, J.H., The Case of the Missing White House Petitions, Huffington Post, October 31, 2011

2. Snider, J.H., What Is the Democratic Function of the White House's We The People Petition Website?, Huffington Post, October 20, 2011

3. Snider, J.H., The White House's New We the People Petition Website, Huffington Post, October 11, 2011

I’m copying below a letter my wife, Terra Snider, emailed yesterday to Macon Phillips, the White House official responsible for the We The People petition website. She has not received a reply. The letter followed several queries that went unanswered via the feedback section of the White House petition website. Technical problems associated with registering to sign petitions on the White House website were first reported on October 3 (four weeks ago) in a CQ article.

Sincerely,

Jim Snider

J.H. (“Jim”) Snider, Ph.D.

President

iSolon.org

Web: www.isolon.org

During the 2011-2012 academic year, I am a non-residential Network Fellow at Harvard University’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics.

From: Terra Ziporyn Snider
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2011 11:41 AM
To: pr...@who.eop.gov
Cc: Macon Phillips
Subject: Concerns about We the People website

Good morning. I just spoke to Jordan on the phone, and he asked me to write up my concerns about technical issues with my We the People petition.

My petition, which concerns school start times (wh.gov/2qJ) was created on Oct. 3, 2011 and needs 5,000 signatures by Nov. 2, 2011. Like most other people who have created petitions, I care deeply about this issue and think it needs to be brought to the White House's attention. I started the petition in good faith, with the understanding that it was my job to promote the petition to the best of my ability and round up 5,000 supporters within 30 days.

I feel that my good faith has been violated. First of all, I myself was not able to create a White House account when I started this process. Later I found an alternate link and was able to do so, but I later discovered (just a few days ago) that some computers are configured so that the pop up box for creating accounts runs off the bottom of the page--or, at other times, contains no boxes to fill in at all (this type of problem was pointed out in a CQ article on Oct. 3 but apparently still has not been fixed). I actually just tried this on my own computer and both problems occurred within two minutes. The box cannot be moved but is fixed in that inaccessible position. I have had numerous complaints, many bitter, from friends and family about how they have been unable to create accounts and how much this makes them dislike their government. Not your intention, I'm sure.

Second, it is very difficult, even when the create account process works, for many people to complete it. You've changed the process several times in the days since I started the petition, and every time I send people instructions about how to do so, it turns out that things have changed. Many older people, in particular, have a lot of trouble with the whole idea of registering an email, and can't understand or read the captcha words. They give up, even when they want to sign a petition. While I was writing this, in fact, I got an email from an attorney in Annapolis who wrote:

"The White House sign in site is such a mess and hampering your signature drive. I don't know the answer. I have created an account but somehow cannot sign the petition. Will continue to try today."

Third, and quite distressingly, the petition website itself has been down "for maintenance" numerous times over the past month, often for extended periods of time. Frequently this happened soon after I sent out a tweet or posted a call on Facebook, and the result was not only terribly embarrassing to me but also to you, I would think--and, of course, this again lost me votes and time as the 30 days ran down.

At the very least, I would think you would extend the time on petitions, and certainly my petition, considering the fact that it was inaccessible to potential signers for a good part of the 30 days. I would also appreciate a clear indication from you as to what precisely "Nov. 2, 2011" means. Will signatures that come in on Nov. 2 itself count? Until what time? 11:59 p.m. EST? 11:59 PST? I would appreciate a clarification on this so that I can know when to stop publicizing the petition.

I think the idea of giving citizens a chance to air important issues is wonderful, but it should encourage citizen participation, not alienate people even more from their government. I also think that when lone individual citizens like me enter this process in good faith about an issue that matters to them, it's only reasonable to ask that you, too, keep your word and give them a fair shot. Thank you for your consideration, and I hope you will consider giving us at least a few more days to get the signatures, given these unfortunate technical glitches.

Sincerely,