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An online petition (or Internet petition, or e-petition) is a form of petition which is signed online, usually through a form on a website. Visitors to the online petition sign the petition by adding their details such as name and email address. Typically, after there are enough signatories, the resulting letter may be delivered to the subject of the petition, usually via e-mail. The online petition may also deliver an email to the target of the petition each time the petition is signed. For example: In 2005, fans of American pop singer Michael Jackson had started an online petition for an official DVD release of a concert from the singer's first solo tour, the ''Bad'' world tour with heavy interest in one of the seven sold-out shows at the Wembley Stadium in London. In 2012, one of the shows from July 16, 1988 attended by 72,000 fans including Prince Charles of Wales and Princess Diana of Wales, was found on Jackson's personal VHS copy of the performance and was officially released on September 18, 2012 packaged in a 25th anniversary special edition reissue of the ''Bad'' album. ==Pros and cons== The format makes it easy for people to make a petition at any time. Several websites allow anyone with computer access to make one to protest any cause, such as stopping construction or closure of a store. Because petitions are easy to set up, the site can attract frivolous causes, or jokes framed in the ostensible form of a petition. Online petitions may be abused if signers don't use real names, thus undermining its legitimacy. Verification, for example via a confirmation e-mail can prevent padding a petition with false names and e-mails. Many petition sites now have safeguards to match real world processes; such as local governments requiring protest groups to present petition signatures, plus their printed name, and a way to verify the signature (either with a phone number or identification number via a driver's license or a passport) to ensure that the signature is legitimate and not falsified by the protestors.〔 Copy of the article now available at http://www.animalliberationfront.com/Practical/Shop--ToDo/Activism/InternetPetitions.htm〕 There are now several major web initiatives featuring online petitions, for example Change.org, Avaaz.org, and 38 Degrees. These are growing in popularity and ability to achieve political impact. The ''Economist'' commented that Avaaz has had "some spectacular successes", but raises questions about what objective measures can be used to assess "the reach of a global e-protest movement".〔(A town crier in the global village ), The Economist, 2 September 2010. Accessed 20 January 2011.〕 Recently, several petitions on Change.org have been attributed to the reversal of a United Airlines Dog Policy. Some legitimate non-governmental organizations (NGOs) shun online petitions. Reasons include the paucity of examples of this form of petition achieving its objective. Critics frequently cite it as an example of slacktivism.〔 In February 2007 an online petition against road pricing and car tracking on the UK Prime Minister's own website attracted over 1.8 million e-signatures from a population of 60 million people. The site was official but experimental at the time. Shocked government ministers were unable to backtrack on the site's existence in the face of national news coverage of the phenomenon. The incident has demonstrated both the potential and pitfalls of online e-Government petitions. It remains to be seen if policy will be permanently affected.〔(PM emails road pricing signatories ), Number10.gov.uk, 20 February 2007. Accessed 31 August 2008.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「online petition」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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