Official: The White House Loves Open Source

Recently, the White House has adopted a scheme that we Brits have been using for some time now: online petitions. The basic idea is the same:

You may use this platform on the White House website to create and sign petitions that call for the federal government to take action on a range of issues. For each topic included in We the People, you can petition the Administration to address a problem, support or oppose a proposal, or otherwise change or continue federal government policy or actions. As explained below, if a petition meets the signature goal within the designated period, the White House will respond to that petition in a timely fashion.

The threshold for a reply is actually reasonable low - currently 25,000 signatures within 30 days. That's meant all kinds of interesting - and vaguely surprising - petitions have received an answer from the White House...