petition

Free Tesla, say 100,000 signers of White House petition

More than 100,000 people have signed a White House petition to allow Tesla Motors to sell its electric cars directly to the public, which means the White House must issue a response.

The White House says it will review any We the People petitions that muster sufficient support -- 100,000 signatures within 30 days -- and then send them on to "appropriate policy experts" before issuing an official reply.

The idea behind the petition, posted June 5, came from a Tesla fan going by the name of Ken -- declining to reveal his full name -- … Read more

White House petition backs direct sales of Tesla cars

A Tesla fan is asking the White House for help. He wants the federal government to stop states from requiring that cars be sold only by third-party dealers.

In a White House petition he created, the fan asks the Obama administration to "allow Tesla Motors to sell directly to consumers in all 50 states." He believes that states shouldn't be allowed to stop the electric car company from selling autos directly to customers.

"The state legislators are trying to unfairly protect automobile dealers in their states from competition," the fan writes in the petition. "… Read more

White House petition seeks to ban men from driving

Forget texting or driving with Google Glass. A petition on the WhiteHouse.gov "We The People" site is going after the true menace behind the wheel -- men.

Full disclosure: I'm also a man, and have been for nearly 15 years in the eyes of the law (although according to certain cultural traditions, I've got more like 13 years of official manhood under my belt, and folks who know me well tell me I'll never actually achieve the title).

The official demand of the petition is to "Prohibit Straight Men From Driving," although there's also a reference to include "men of other sexual orientations who are attracted to women" under the proposed ban.… Read more

Breast cancer activists win battle with Facebook over mastectomy photos

Facebook has clarified its policy against nudity to allow for postmastectomy photos after a run-in with vocal breast cancer awareness advocates disgruntled by the social network's practice of removing photos depicting mastectomy scars.

In May, Scorchy Barrington, a woman with Stage IV breast cancer, petitioned Facebook executives through Change.org to end the company's practice of censoring photos of men and women who have undergone mastectomies. Barrington said Facebook was removing photos from the SCAR Project Page, which features photographs of young breast cancer survivors, and that Facebook had banned project founder and photographer David Jay from the … Read more

Mozilla, EFF, ACLU rally public against electronic surveillance

Incensed at revelations of U.S. government surveillance programs, Mozilla, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union, Reddit, and others have launched an effort called StopWatching.Us to marshal opposition to the secret programs.

"The revelations about the National Security Agency's surveillance apparatus, if true, represent a stunning abuse of our basic rights," the site says. "We demand the U.S. Congress reveal the full extent of the NSA's spying programs."

The site includes a petition that people can sign and send electronically. Other participants in the initiative include the American Library … Read more

Petition for Verizon to go contract-less gains steam

Verizon Wireless customers and, in some cases, critics have been signing a petition at a torrid pace, asking the company to go contract-less.

The petition on Change.org now has approximately 94,000 signatures, roughly 56,000 supporters shy of its goal of 150,000. The petition, created by "longtime Verizon customer" Mike Beauchamp of Wichita, Kan., has called the petition, simply, "Verizon: Get rid of contracts for wireless service."

"Getting rid of carrier contracts is a win for customers. Verizon's CEO, Lowell McAdam, has already expressed his willingness to do away with them … Read more

AppGratis tries petition to shame Apple on app removal

Facing what appears to be an indefinite ban of its software from Apple's App Store, French app discovery service AppGratis is trying to make a case for itself with an Internet petition.

A new page that went up over the weekend gives users a special e-mail address to send their pleas to if they want to "save" the company. So far, the initiative has accumulated more than 608,000 such messages, according to the page's official tally.

AppGratis was removed from Apple's App Store earlier this month. The software would alert users to a daily … Read more

T-Mobile changing the contract game

CNET Update will pay you Tuesday for a smartphone today:

Google Reader is shutting down in July, and its demise can impact citizens who have Internet access restricted by their government. The Change.org petition to keep Google Reader has about 12 percent of its signatures from people living in countries that have Internet censorship. People in Kazakhstan and China have left comments urging Google to keep the Reader tool because it's the best way to access banned websites and uncensored news.

Also featured in Tuesday's news roundup:

- Next week, T-Mobile is expected to announce a new way to pay for smartphones … Read more

Petitions beg Google to reconsider closure of Reader

Google's decision to sunset its Google Reader has proved a wildly unpopular one, and users of the RSS reader have turned to popular medium for effecting change: the online petition.

Google announced this afternoon that it will shutter the service in July. In a company blog post today, Google said the decision was based on declining usage of the RSS reader, which was launched in 2005.

Many turned to Twitter to express their disappointment with the decision. While some said they relied heavily on the service, others admitted their use had become less frequent. Still, others said Google greed … Read more