In light of the White House getting on the net, how effective do you all think an electronic petition, about the BigBrotherChip, would be? Do you think that they would listen? Do you think that, perhapse, we would simply be put on a list of "trouble makers?" I was thinking of writting a petition and distributing it in every way I can think of, and encouraging people to send it to the White House. Any comments? In general, petitions are a notoriously ineffective way to lobby. That's doubly so for email versions, for obvious reasons. Even without that problem, an electronic petition will (rightly) be ignored on the grounds that it represents the opinions of a small elite minority. With signatures collected in the streets and shopping malls of America, you have at least some chance of reaching a cross-section of people. But on the net? (And even if I'm wrong about the net's population, would they know it?) As for a trouble-maker list -- not likely. Apart from the political hell there'd be to pay if word ever leaked (the right to complain to the government is quite explicit in the Constitution, and is legally far stronger than the still-controversial right to privacy (remember Bork?)), I haven't seen any evidence that broad-scale ``enemies lists'' have been collected since Nixon's day. That may, of course, mean they've just gotten smarter about how they do it... Based on my past experience, your name will be collected -- but just as a person interested in certain issues, so that you can be solicited for funds on certain issues. --Steve Bellovin