By now there can be few people who have not heard of the great petition posted on the Downing Street e-petitions website to protest at the government’s proposals for road pricing. After all it has gathered one point five million signatures so far and featured on the main news on TV.
As a result of the petition New Labour has proclaimed the website an extension of democracy (no mention of the other great petition to begin imprisoning cats for their cruelty to mice then? Oh well, that one only got three signatures.) but is the e-petitions site really an exercise in open government or something more sinister? Number 10 now has a database of 1.5 million web addresses of people who might be interested in buying sat nav systems, DIY Breathalysers, Radar Trap early warning devices, furry dice and “Wayne and Tracey” sunscreens (I’m told 80s retro is very big this year.)
So how much is that information going to be worth to organisations that sell such stuff?
I would estimate it could raise a tidy sum for the Blair legacy project fund.