The historic White House petition site "We the People", [https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/] where citizens voice their concerns has been shut down.
The unique platform, launched in 2011 by former President Barack Obama, was shut down since Monday, Dec. 18, said President Donald Trump's administration, assuring that it will return late January as a new site.
'We the People' page within the White House official website served as a public relations device for the Obama administration to provide an online platform for citizens to express themselves. However, criminal justice proceedings and other federal government processes were kept outside the purview of these petitions.
Any petition that gets 100,000 signatures will trigger an official response from the White House but Obama administration's move was not strictly followed by the present administration, which has not responded to 16 petitions submitted so far with more than the threshold 100,000 signatures.
"Thank you for your interest in Petitions.WhiteHouse.gov. To improve this site's performance, the platform is currently down for maintenance and will return in late January. All existing petitions and associated signatures have been preserved and will be available when the site is relaunched," said a White House statement after the closure.
Many of these petitions pertain to urging the President to release his tax returns and to place his assets in a blind trust. However, a White House official said the Petition-site will return in January and the closure will be for a brief period, which will save taxpayers $1.3 million annually.
Some of the notable petitions during the Obama period included:
Death Star stimulus plan
In November 2012, a petition urging the government to create a Death Star as an economic stimulus and job creation measure got a response that it would not be feasible for at least 833,000 years costing about $852 quadrillion. Newtown shooting in Connecticut on December 14, 2012, too attracted a petition for new gun-control measures that received 100,000 signatures within 24 hours.
Phone Unlocking Act
In February 2013, a petition started by digital rights activist Sina Khanifar elicited a prompt response from the Obama administration within two weeks and also set the ball rolling for a legislation on legalizing cell phone unlocking. In 2014, the US Congress passed the Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act, making it the first legislation driven by an online petition. It was signed by President Obama on August 1, 2014.
