PetitionOnline
Encyclopedia
PetitionOnline is an Internet petition
Internet petition
An Internet petition is a form of petition posted on a website. Visitors to the website in question can add their email addresses or names, and after enough "signatures" have been collected, the resulting letter may be delivered to the subject of the petition, usually via e-mail.-Pros and cons:The...

 service founded and trademarked in 1999 by Artifice, Inc., and now operated by Change.org
Change.org
Change.org is an online platform for social change launched on February 7, 2007 by current CEO Ben Rattray and Mark Dimas, and certified as a B Corporation in January, 2011. Its stated mission is to "empower anyone, anywhere to start, join, and win campaigns for social change."...

, that allows users to create and sign petitions. When enough signatures on a petition are collected, the creator of the petition can send it towards its intended target, usually by e-mail
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...

. According to the site itself, as of April 3, 2008, it had collected more than 66 million signatures and "thousands and thousands" of active petitions. A large number of hosted petitions are political in nature, but petitions come in eight categories: Politics and Government (including categories for USA, state, local, and international), Entertainment and Media, Environment, Religion, and Technology & Business.

In the news

Some of its petitions have received outside attention for the issues they have stood for. The site has claimed that its first official response to a hosted petition was from the "Dissatisfied Web TV
Web TV
Web TV may refer to:* MSN TV , a thin client which uses a television for display and the online service that supports it* Web television, an emerging genre of digital entertainment...

 Consumer Petition", in which Dennis Reno, senior director of Web TV
Web TV
Web TV may refer to:* MSN TV , a thin client which uses a television for display and the online service that supports it* Web television, an emerging genre of digital entertainment...

 customer service, responded to the claims of low-quality service. In January 2002, CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...

 wrote a formal apology to the National Association of Muslim Women, which posted the "Petition to Correct the Negative Portrayal of Muslim Women in CNN Program Coverage" on the PetitionOnline site in December 2001, over perceived offensive comments made by Leon Harris
Leon Harris
Leon Harris is an American newscaster. Harris was born to Leon Sr. and Lorrene Harris in Akron, Ohio. He has three brothers: Marcus, Jerry, and J.J., who still reside in Akron; and a sister, Kimberly, who lives in Houston....

 during the TalkBack Live program. Later that year, the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...

promoted a PetitionOnline-hosted petition asking the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 television network to keep country singer Toby Keith
Toby Keith
Toby Keith Covel , best known as Toby Keith, is an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer and actor. Keith released his first four studio albums — 1993's Toby Keith, 1994's Boomtown, 1996's Blue Moon and 1997's Dream Walkin, plus a Greatest Hits package for various divisions of...

 in its 2002 Independence Day
Independence Day (United States)
Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain...

 special over the controversy regarding Keith's song "The Angry American".

In 2004, the petition "iBook
IBook
The iBook was a line of laptop computers sold by Apple Computer from 1999 to 2006. The line targeted the consumer and education markets, with lower specifications and prices than the PowerBook, Apple's higher-end line of laptop computers....

 Logic Board Failure" was part of the coverage over a threatened lawsuit against Apple Computer
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...

 over defective iBook
IBook
The iBook was a line of laptop computers sold by Apple Computer from 1999 to 2006. The line targeted the consumer and education markets, with lower specifications and prices than the PowerBook, Apple's higher-end line of laptop computers....

 laptops. In 2005, the petition "Support for Nathan Warmack's Right to Wear his Kilt" received attention for the issue of the mentioned high school student's right to wear a kilt
Kilt
The kilt is a knee-length garment with pleats at the rear, originating in the traditional dress of men and boys in the Scottish Highlands of the 16th century. Since the 19th century it has become associated with the wider culture of Scotland in general, or with Celtic heritage even more broadly...

 to a school dance in Jackson High School in Jackson, Missouri
Jackson, Missouri
Jackson is a city in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, United States. The population was 13,758 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Cape Girardeau County. Jackson is named for U.S. President Andrew Jackson. It is a principal city of the Cape Girardeau–Jackson, MO-IL Metropolitan...

. In 2007, the petition "Filipino Americans demand for apology from ABC and Desperate Housewives" was noted during coverage of the Desperate Housewives Filipino joke controversy.

Other claims of success through hosted online petitions include the introduction of Sci-Fi Channel Australia
Sci Fi Channel (Australia)
Sci Fi Channel is an Australian subscription channel that airs science fiction, fantasy and related programs. It is available on Foxtel, Austar and Optus Television's subscription platforms. It is currently the only Sci Fi channel worldwide to keep the Saturn logo.-Shows:Sci Fi currently airs...

 and the stopping of the possible closure of the San Francisco Japantown
Japantown, San Francisco, California
comprises about six square city blocks in San Francisco, California, USA. San Francisco's Japantown is the largest and oldest such enclave in the United States.-Location:...

.

Criticism

Some of the petitions hosted on the site have cause the credibility of the site to be questioned. One petition, titled "Let's Save America - Ban Anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

Now!" is an example of a hoax petition that was easily created on PetitionOnline, intended to demonstrate the unmonitored oversight of petitions on the site. There are also numerous petitions that aim to stop online petitioning.
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