I have set up an online petition to voice out my displeasure that the LTA intends to install CCTV cameras on all buses in the near future. For anyone who wants to have a say in this issue, do visit the URL listed below:

NO TO CCTV ON BUSES

Extracted from the petition:
"This very initiative infringes on our privacy and our personal freedom. This is as good as telling all Singaporeans that the moment you stepped out of your house, the government is watching you and knows what you are doing and how you are behaving."

The issue of intergrity with regard to online petitions:

Despite the success of online petitions, they do tend to lack credibility. The ease with which a person can apply for multiple e-mail addresses under fake names gives an online signature less weight than an ink-and-paper one.

I'm aware that not every signature might be genuine.

But it ust be noted that false signatures would be a problem with a traditional petition as well. There's no stopping anyone from signing multiple times.

In the instance of The Families Against the Casino Threat in Singapore, (Facts) was cautious about not taking the signatures on its petition at face value. Unlike the NKF's, its petition required the signatory to put down the number of his identity card as well.

Before they sent the petition to President S.R. Nathan, they deleted names without proper identification numbers and contact details. The final petition consisted of more than 19,500 names.

Indeed, it is easy for someone with computer programming knowledge to generate multiple entries on a petition, said Mr Bok Hai Suan of NCS Pte Ltd.

Explained the director of corporate information systems: 'It is easy to write a computer program to mimic the data entry sequence in online petitions as the screen is usually quite simple and straightforward, and it is meant to be that way. The program can generate as many entries as it wants.'

However, creators of petitions who want to maintain the inte-grity of petitions could try various means of thwarting hackers, such as asking for additional information.

'If the site asks for additional information, such as the identity card number and postal code, it will make it a bit more difficult to fake signatories,' said Mr Bok.

'But it is still possible to do it,'' he cautioned.

Ultimately, it's 'the rough numbers that count.

I don't think the exact number is important. The important thing is that it gives an idea of the interest. A certain percentage of a petition will be true: A petition doesn't just get a lot of votes if no one is interested.

Associate Professor Randolph Kluver, executive director of the Singapore Internet Research Centre said: 'You can't make an insignificant issue significant by using technology. In the case of the NKF online petition, it was the importance of the issue that got people's attention.

'People are drawn into action when they see their own values being undermined.'