“WHO makes laws? In most of the democratic world, that’s the sole preserve of elected governments. But in Finland, technology is about to make democracy significantly more direct.
Earlier this year, the Finnish government enabled something called a ‘citizens’ initiative,’ through which registered voters can come up with new laws – if they can get 50,000 of their fellow citizens to back them up within six months, then the Eduskunta (the Finnish parliament) is forced to vote on the proposal.
Now, this crowdsourced law-making system is about to go online through a platform called the Open Ministry. The non-profit organisation has been collecting signatures for various proposals on paper since 1 March, when citizens’ initiatives came in, but a couple of days ago the government approved the electronic ID mechanism that underpins the digital version of the platform. That means it can now go live on 1 October...”
GIGAOM.COM 20 September. DAVID MEYER
LEHTIKUVA / MIKKO STIG
