Tracking the Italian Parliament,

‘Following Parliament’ takes on new meaning with Open Parliament (http://parlamento.openpolis.it), which provides such information as the absentee rates of members of parliament, details of the proceedings, draft laws, approved legislation and comments from Italian lawmakers. A project of an independent organization, OpenPolis, Open Parliament allows the public to track, in real time, the activities of the Senate, Chamber of Deputies and the Italian government. Italy now joins the company of other countries that allow the public to actively monitor their governments. Similar websites include England’s They Work For You (www.theyworkforyou.com); EPVote (www.epvote.eu), which monitors the European Parliament; and the United States’ Watchdog.net (http://watchdog.net).