The White House takes another step toward open Government with the planned launch of a direct-to-government petitioning system called We the People. 

According to Macon Phillips, WH Director of Digital Strategy:

Individuals will be able to create or sign a petition that calls for action by the federal government on a range of issues.  If a petition gathers enough support (i.e., signatures) it will be reviewed by a standing group of White House staff, routed to any other appropriate offices and generate an official, on-the-record response.

How many signatures? Initially petitions that gather more than 5,000 signatures in 30 days will be reviewed and answered.

Very promising stuff, and great PR for the White House — unless of course some very controversial petitions start making their way through, but I can imagine those are screened before allowing people to vote on them. This is definitely not the platform for Firefly fans to vent their desire for the show’s return. Also 5k seems like a very low threshold for a response, I wonder if we’ll see the White House having to answer the same questions about marijuana legalization over and over.

Immediate thoughts: WH is going to grow their email list like crazy, new competition for the usual Change.org-based petition, reform-minded orgs like Vargas’ Define American might start looking here directly to gain momentum for policy change.