There's been a number of mentions of viral emails to gather support for the one million-plus e-petition against road pricing, and today a contributor to the UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange dropped a useful warning about the impact of these.
The vehicle tracking and road pricing policy petition has put the system back in the spotlight and it's bringing a lot of e-democracy issues to the forefront.
For me a big issue is I'm sceptical that information I've received about the subject through viral campaigns is a reasonable summary of government policy - which would lead me to think that many of the people who signed the petition are influenced by road lobby scare mongering. I suppose the government could email them and explain the policy better though.
Then adding a copy of the email she had received:
"Subject: FW: UK Road Tax and Big Brother - Urgent -
Sending this as widely as possible - sincere apologies if it's unwelcome.
You can sign as an ex-pat too.
See Link Below
PETITION
________________________________
The government's proposal to introduce road pricing will mean you having to purchase a tracking device for your car and paying a monthly bill to use it
The tracking device will cost in the region of £200 and in a recent study by the BBC the lowest monthly* bill was £28 for a rural florist and £194 for a delivery driver. A non working mum who use the car to take the children to school paid £86 in one month.
On top of this massive increase in tax, you will be tracked. Somebody will know where you are at all times. They will also know how fast you have been going so even if you accidentally creep over a speed limit you can expect an additional fine with your monthly bill.
Its not only limited to speeding - they also know where parking restrictions etc are located - and you!!!!
If you care about our freedom and stopping the constant bashing of the car driver/road user (not limited to cars), please sign the petition on No 10's new web site
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/traveltax/
Then you will get an e-mail from Number 10 with a link for you to click to confirm your objection.
Please pass this on to anyone who owns a car/motor vehicle/motorcycle (or will be in the future). It affects them.
Just to register 1% of those against this proposal there needs to be 300,000 people signed up!
The closing date is 20th February 2007 -DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS????
* Compare this to the annual cost that you currently pay!
PASS ON - NOW - THERE IS NO TIME TO WAIT."
A Google search using one of the sentences shows that this has been circulating in a lot of places - I got 17,200 results listed (though I haven't checked them all ...). I tried to find a rebuttal from the Government, and turned up this speech from Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander in May 2006 and news of a draft bill from last November. Earlier this week he told the BBC he would listen to the petitioners - however:
Ultimately, it will be a matter for parliament to make decisions but it is important that people have the chance to have their say and no doubt people will offer a range of opinions during that debate.
All this seemed to me to show up the problem of petitioning without some associated deliberation. The petition has brilliantly raised the issue - but where can we find some facts about what the government is or is not proposing?
The discussion on this and other issues continues on the UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange, where you can now view the web archive without registration. Anyone can sign up and join in, and there's also an RSS feed for headlines. Full feeds are promised in a month or two.
The BBC has an interview with Tom Steinberg of mySociety, who developed the e-petitions, and The Guardian has a leader.
As I wrote earlier, the Scottish Parliament has a site where you can petition, see who has signed, and also join in discussion. As so often is the case, they do things better north of the border, but no-one takes much notice in the Westminster village.
Update: I've just spotted this item in The Sun (a populist tabloid in case you are outside the UK) which says the email comes from the Association of British Drivers. It calls on the Government to clarify the proposals, adding:
The ABD’s petition may be benefiting from mass hysteria, but until the finer details of this proposal are set out, no motorist in their right mind will allow the bill to go unopposed.
With the tabloids wading in, I think we'll hear more. I wish it were easier to track where it's all happening, though.
It's an interesting one isn't it. I got the viral email too and meant to blog about it.
It is a kind of traditional email based response similar to what Guido did to Miliband's wiki. I was always a bit sceptical about what the epetitions could achieve. I my mind, the problem is that the system relies on minimal engagement - ie. just registering your support rather than commenting and engaging with specific questions.
Would a more in-depth engagement tool like, say, a blog have had this effect. probably not, but then a blog would make as prerequisite the ability to understanding social media tools and - perhaps controversially - to engage significantly with policy issues.
The people behind the viral, the ABD, are a shadowy bunch I've had run ins with in the past too!
Posted by: Simon Collister | February 18, 2007 at 05:53 PM