We the People

See the following -

White House Vastly Overstates Federal Transparency, Auditors Report

Joseph Marks | Nextgov | October 30, 2013

The U.S. has only completed half the commitments it made two years ago under an international government transparency agreement, an independent auditor found recently. Read More »

After Long Delay, Obama Declines To Rule On Petition Calling For Firing Of DOJ Officials Over Aaron Swartz’s Suicide

Brian Fung and Andrea Peterson | The Washington Post | January 8, 2015

The White House has declined to rule on a petition that called for the firing of two Justice Department officials over the handling of a controversial court case involving Aaron Swartz, an Internet activist who committed suicide in 2013 after being accused of hacking into a university network...

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Open Government Is An Open Conversation

Lisa Ellman and Hollie Russon Gilman | Whitehouse.gov | July 3, 2013

President Obama launched the first U.S. Open Government National Action Plan in September 2011, as part of the Nation’s commitment to the principles of the global Open Government Partnership. [...] Read More »

We the Coders: Open-Sourcing We the People, the White House's Online Petitions System

Macon Phillips | Whitehouse.gov | August 23, 2012

I'm thrilled to announce that we are publishing the source code for We the People, the online petitions system that has been a popular way for the public to connect with the White House over the past year. Read More »

Welcoming The White House To Github

Sean Herron | open.nasa.gov | August 24, 2012

Yesterday, the White House open sourced its first project on Github, “We The People“, the popular e-petitions platform that powers petitions.whitehouse.gov. Read More »

When The People Speak, Is Anyone Listening?

Joseph Marks | Nextgov | February 5, 2013

The White House’s online petition website We the People showcased both unity and division as 2012 came to a close... Read More »

White House Gears Up For Second 'Hackathon'

Frank Konkel | FCW | April 8, 2013

The White House is looking for hackers, tech experts and developers to participate in its second Hackathon on June 1. The goal is to produce "full, production-ready applications and visualization tools" that will be used on the We the People petitioning system under an open-source license. Read More »

White House Offers 'We The People' Petition App Under Open Source License

Loek Essers | Computerworld | August 24, 2012

The source code of "We The People," the online system that can be used by citizens to submit their petitions to the White House, is being offered as open source software, an official said on Thursday. Read More »

White House Petition On Cellphone Unlocking Receives Over 100,000 Signatures

Derek Khanna | Forbes | February 25, 2013

At 7:37 AM EST on February 21, 2013, a White House petition on cellphone unlocking went over the 100,000 signature threshold on the White House’s “We the People” website.  This was the threshold for a White House response.  Now they will will wait to hear from the White House. How did we get here and what is cellphone unlocking? Read More »

White House Petition On Legalizing Unlocking Of Mobile Phones Tries To Pass 100,000 Signature Threshold

Mike Masnick | Techdirt | February 11, 2013

Last month, we wrote about how the White House had bumped up the number of signatures it requires to get on "We the People..." petitions from 25,000 to 100,000 before it is "required" to respond [...]. Around the same time, we also talked about how unlocking your mobile phone, [...]was switching from being legal to being illegal, thanks to the Librarian of Congress choosing not to renew an exemption to the DMCA's anti-circumvention rules... Read More »

White House To Host Open Data Day Hackathon

Frank Konkel | FCW | February 6, 2013

Do you know your way around an application programming interface? Do open data and data visualization make you feel warm and fuzzy inside? Want to work on the code that allowed the public to petition for the administration to build a Death Star or let Texas secede from the country? Read More »