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New Zealand Police Act Wiki Lets You Write the Law

Posted by samzenpus on from the I-can-speed-every-tuesday dept.

PhoenixOr writes "New Zealand is now on the top of my list for cool governments. They've opened a wiki allowing the populace to craft a new version of their Police Act, the legislative basis for policing in New Zealand."

7 of 255 comments (clear)

  1. Re:kiwis use wikis by Tuoqui · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Now if only this would catch on... we might actually see laws that are representative of what the people want instead of some asshole with a few hundred thousand dollars more than they should have in their pocket.

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  2. Re:Not such a good idea.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Opening a wiki for creating laws is insane. It would just invite vandalism, and instead of leading to formation of new laws, it would waste money and manpower involved in maintanence and moderation.


    Yeah. I heard that someone also had a wiki to build an encyclopedia, but that's just as insane. It would just invite vandalism, and instead of leading to an informative and complete reference, it would waste money and manpower involved in maintanence and moderation.
  3. A Public Relations exercise by gihan_ripper · · Score: 5, Insightful
    From the wiki (emphasis mine):

    An official Bill is currently being written-up by parliamentary drafters, but in parallel there's an opportunity for others to suggest how a new Policing Act might look by contributing to a wiki Act.
    OK, it's unrealistic to believe that New Zealand would let anyone write the law. That would lead to anarchy. However, what they're doing is trying to get people interested in the law-making process, and in the laws themselves by opening up this wiki. I can see a number of purposes this could serve:
    1. Educational: teaches citizens about laws and law-making.
    2. Political: by getting citizens involved in the process, they're more likely to support the new Act.
    3. Police PR: gets citizens to think about policing in a new way and perhaps gain a new respect for the Police.
    --
    Phoenix, Boston, Little Rock, see a pattern?
    1. Re:A Public Relations exercise by bug1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "OK, it's unrealistic to believe that New Zealand would let anyone write the law. That would lead to anarchy."

      Quite the opposite.

      Anarchy is the absense in laws, so letting anyone write laws would move New Zealand further away from anarchy.

      Allowing anyone to repeal laws might lead to anarchy.

  4. Re:Not such a good idea.. by dangitman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Laws have to be constant, same for everyone, and not open to discussion or question.

    WTF? Laws should be constant? So slavery never should have been abolished, I guess. They should not be open for discussion? Sounds like fascism to me.

    It should be the exact opposite - laws should change to reflect the times, and they should be constantly discussed and questioned.

    --
    ... and then they built the supercollider.
  5. Re:kiwis use wikis by WhatAmIDoingHere · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You act like the default relationship with the government should be love. You should hate your government until they give you a reason not to.

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    Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
  6. Re:kiwis use wikis by Elemenope · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Hating your government for no good reason is nearly as silly as loving it on the same basis. I would say one should be rationally engaged and emotionally disinterested in their government unless and until that government unduly interferes in your life or perpetrates some act you consider to be unjust.

    But maybe that's just me.

    --
    All the techniques ever used to make men moral have been themselves thoroughly immoral... (Nietzsche)