Call It Wiki Law
September 28, 2007 | by Christopher Nickson
A new tool in New Zealand allows the public to offer suggestions on the wording of a new police act.
You could wall it Wiki law. Down in New Zealand the police have launched an online tool, or wiki, that allows the public to comment on and suggest wording for a new police act.
If that seems like democracy very much in action, it is, and it’s never been done before, the police claim. They want a broad range of opinion before presenting the law to the New Zealand parliament.
“Launching a wiki version of a statute is a novel move, but one we hope will yield a range of views from people interested in having a direct say on the shape of a new Policing Act," Supt. Hamish McCardle, the man in charge of the review, told BBC News.
The wiki is open to all Internet users, and is part of an 18-month review period before the new act is presented sometime next year. However, when checked this morning, the wiki site was down, having been overwhelmed. Democracy is obviously popular.
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