Avaaz.org

On the page Petitioning websites we keep track of all petitioning websites we come across. We compare and adopt best practices in our site.

Updates and newsletters

In the privacy policy it says the signatory receives updates by e-mail. After receiving any of them you can opt-out by sending unsubscribe in the subject of an e-mail to complaints@avaaz.org. You can not update as easily with us, but you are also not unvoluntarily subscribed. Only after ticking a box you receive three (not an unlimited number) of newsletters. And only about the specific petition, not about related actions. We can not determine which other petitions or actions are related, we leave it up to the petitioner to refer to other petitions.

But a signatory with us can not unsubscribe to the answer a petition gets. If you do not want an e-mail with the answer you need to undo your signature by explaining this to the helpdesk (webmaster@petities.nl), much like the unsubscribe e-mail to complaints@avaaz.org, or not sign to begin with.

The difference with Avaaz is that you do not regularly get answers to petitions in those updates. You get indications on the impact a petition had in the number of signatures or attention from the mass media. Perhaps there is a hand over to authorities of the petition, but a formal reaction to the petition is rarely mentioned.

How public your personal data are

"For petitions and surveys you've signed or completed, we treat your name, city, state, and comments as public information" it says in the privacy policy. That is not the case with us. If you don't want your information to be public, it is not public. This is the default with us. It does go the recipient of the petition, but Dutch law requires a protection of that data. It can only be used for the purpose you gave it; to sign the petition. The list of signatories can therefore not be published as this is not implied with signing a petition.

Passing on the e-mail address to others is comparable. With the difference that Avaaz suggests that it is possible for authorities to contact you by e-mail if you give permission. With us it always goes through us and never individually: the answer from an authority goes to all signatories.

Also, you can give Avaaz the permission to pass your e-mail address to others as part of a campaign. In the past this was an option with us, but it was hardly used. Now petitioners can ask to subscribe to some newsletter or contact them personally. From there on it is between the signatory and the petitioner, we are not in between.

Analytics

Avaaz uses cookies for "Google Analytics, Chartbeat, Litmus and similar services". We do not analyse our data. We might do so in the future, but not with such external services. Only by building something into our site.