Is signing a petition a matter of public record?


The supreme court in the States decided that it is. My general inclination is to support the right to be anonymous. Speech is not really all that free if we are always forced to attach our name to our opinions. A name is generally used for harassment or for some other ad hominem assault on the opinion. Even despicable opinions should be heard, and the strength of the opinion should stand or fall on its own, regardless of the authorship.

For example, if somebody wanted to anonymously write about the over-representation of jewish people in various roles, I might disagree, but I would not suddenly demand that they publish their name.

Petitions, however, are not issues of free speech. By signing a petition, the signatory is publicly proclaiming support for the opinion expressed by the petition. To be honest, I am flabbergasted that anybody thought that they could sign a petition and then somehow hide that fact.

The only concern I have is that some people could be forced to sign a petition against their will. Unlike voting, petitions are not signed in a controlled context (which, as a sidenote, makes petitions pretty much worthless). However, in the balance, there is no reasonable right to privacy when signing a public opinion document. People will just have to learn to be more careful.