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papiris

2 weeks ago

papiris
2 weeks ago

Petition in Germany to recognize unpaid contribution to free and open source software projects as 'society-beneficial volunteering' (ehrenamt)!

This will give volunteering for e.g. @postmarketOS , @freifunk , @kde , @nextcloud , @Mastodon and other libre projects the same legal status as taking care of an elderly family member or volunteering for a youth association, which provides tax benefits and relaxes requirements for receiving unemployment benefits.

Interested people may sign it using one of the two following links.

The petition in german language: openpetition.de/petition/onlin…

The petition in english language: openpetition.de/petition/onlin…

News article (German): heise.de/news/Petition-Open-So…

News article (English): heise.de/en/news/Petition-Open…

The petition is organized by @webvision.

If you're not a resident of Germany, go ahead and use this thread to organize similar initiatives in your country of residence.

#deutschland #foss #floss #volunteer #ehrenamt #freiwilligkeit #openSource #freeSoftware

Open-Source-Entwickler fordern Gleichstellung mit Vereinsarbeit

Eine Petition fordert, ehrenamtliche Arbeit an Open-Source-Software rechtlich wie klassisches Ehrenamt zu behandeln – mit steuerlichen Vorteilen.

^{Moritz Förster (iX Magazin)}

This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)

like this

reshared this

in reply to papiris

4censord bc100 arc

in reply to papiris 2 weeks ago

hmm is there a reason this isnt on the petitions platform from the bund?

in reply to 4censord bc100 arc

papiris

in reply to 4censord bc100 arc 2 weeks ago

@4censord I don't know, are citizens' initiative petitions required to be on the bunds platform, in order to legally force a discussion in the bundestag?

I found the petition here, there may be additional context: blackneon.net/post/64526

@4censord bc100 arc

in reply to papiris

4censord bc100 arc

in reply to papiris 2 weeks ago

thing is if it hits the goal on the bundes platform, they are required by law to discuss them
while on any other platform there is no such thing
so they could just ignore it in that case

in reply to 4censord bc100 arc

papiris

in reply to 4censord bc100 arc 2 weeks ago

@4censord oooh very important aspect!

According to openpetition there does seem to be a mechanism regarding that, which encompasses more online petitions than those on the bunds platform.
I'm not well versed in german legalese (ich spreche und schreiben scheiss deutch auch), could you give it a read? openpetition.de/blog/blog/2017…

Das Quorum auf openPetition « openPetition – Blog

Freie Plattform für Unterschriftenaktionen, Initiativen, Entscheide, Petitionen: Starten, sammeln, debattieren, verändern

^openPetition

@4censord bc100 arc

in reply to papiris

Marcus Müller

in reply to papiris 2 weeks ago

it just says there's a number for how many signatures you need for openpetition to request a statement from a responsible authority. In this case, from members of parliament

The idea is that that number is high enough for it to be significant to their constituency, i.e., ignoring the openpetition request **might** have measurable influence on their outcome.

Nothing relevant to the parliamentary process in Germany.

This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)

papiris reshared this.

in reply to Marcus Müller

papiris

in reply to Marcus Müller 2 weeks ago

@funkylab @4censord glad you had a look and chimed in!
In that case, the petition will have stronger leverage if it gets moved to the bund petition platform. Luckily the petition just started, so moving it now wouldn't be a devastating loss (4000 signatories so far, so still a significant setback).

Is this the official bunds petition platform? petitionsportal.de/

I have very little knowledge about the democratic process in Germany (and meetings tomorrow in both the workers' coop me and others are organizing and datakollektivet.no), so it would be awesome if someone (maybe you? 😀 ) could contact the organizers of the petition to bring up these concerns and suggest moving the petition to the place where it'll legally force a debate in the bund.

Deutscher Bundestag - Gemeinsames Petitionsportal des Bundes und der Länder

Hier finden Sie zu den Internetauftritten der Petitionsausschüsse der Parlamente in Bund und Ländern.

^{Deutscher Bundestag - Gemeinsames Petitionsportal des Bundes und der Länder}

@4censord bc100 arc @Marcus Müller

in reply to papiris

Marcus Müller

in reply to papiris 2 weeks ago

@4censord yes, specifically epetitionen.bundestag.de/ ; do contact the petitionsausschuss maybe; they can decide to deal with a petition even if formal requirements aren't met, afaik.

I'll not be available to help you.

Petitionen: Verwendung von Cookies nicht aktiviert

^{epetitionen.bundestag.de}

@4censord bc100 arc

in reply to Marcus Müller

webvision

in reply to Marcus Müller 2 weeks ago

@funkylab @4censord I will definitely reach out to them, once the 30k signatures are reached.

@4censord bc100 arc @Marcus Müller

in reply to papiris

Florian Schmidt

in reply to papiris 1 week ago

This might be more important: OpenPetition promises to bring the petition to the official committee at the German Bundestag if they get enough signatures (link in German)
openpetition.de/blog/blog/2018…
@4censord

Einreichen garantiert! « openPetition – Blog

Freie Plattform für Unterschriftenaktionen, Initiativen, Entscheide, Petitionen: Starten, sammeln, debattieren, verändern

^openPetition

@4censord bc100 arc

in reply to 4censord bc100 arc

webvision

in reply to 4censord bc100 arc 2 weeks ago

@4censord I simply wasn’t aware of the official platform in the beginning. The petition was already shared across social media and had 100+ signatures. I simply didn’t want to create more confusion. Please sign and share anyways. 🙏

@4censord bc100 arc

in reply to webvision

papiris

in reply to webvision 2 weeks ago

@4censord bc100 arc @webvision

in reply to papiris

Aiono

in reply to papiris 2 weeks ago

is it enough only to be a resident, e.g. not a citizen?

in reply to Aiono

papiris

in reply to Aiono 2 weeks ago

@aiono I don't know, but as far as I can tell, residents can sign the petition.

If I understand correctly, non-german citizen people outside Germany can sign as well, it's just that their vote won't count towards the necessary 'quorum' to force a discussion about the petition in the german bundestag / federal assembly.

Mein deutch ist schlecht, please read details on openpetition: openpetition.de/blog/blog/2017…

Das Quorum auf openPetition « openPetition – Blog

Freie Plattform für Unterschriftenaktionen, Initiativen, Entscheide, Petitionen: Starten, sammeln, debattieren, verändern

^openPetition

@Aiono

in reply to papiris

Paul_IPv6

in reply to papiris 2 weeks ago

love it!

i've always been a fan of breaks for folks doing things of public benefit (forgiveness of student loans, tax credits, etc.) and maintaining FOSS is very much a public benefit.

papiris reshared this.

in reply to papiris

Fell

in reply to papiris 2 weeks ago

My wife brought an interesting argument to this topic: She is not opposing this, not at all, but she argued that technically not the whole community would benefit from open source because often in practice open source is more of a hobbyist niche. KDE, for example, isn't something your neighbour would care about.

I do kind of agree, but I also think this is changing rapidly and more people are interested in learning about open source.

in reply to Fell

Daniel Bohrer

in reply to Fell 2 weeks ago

@fell well, to be honest, also not a lot of people care a lot about the Kleinkleckersdorf e.V. soccer club. That doesn't mean that it's useless per se.

@papiris @postmarketOS @freifunk @kde @nextcloud @Mastodon

@Nextcloud 📱☁️💻 @Fell @Mastodon @papiris @KDE @freifunk @postmarketOS

in reply to Fell

Geert Uytterhoeven

in reply to Fell 2 weeks ago

@fell Point your wife to the other 10+ devices in your house/environment that contain open source software?

@Fell

in reply to papiris

schuelermine; probably → 39C3

in reply to papiris 2 weeks ago

why not an official Bundestag initiative?

in reply to schuelermine; probably → 39C3

papiris

in reply to schuelermine; probably → 39C3 2 weeks ago

Because the organizer of the petition (@webvision) wasn't aware of the official bundestag epetition platform (epetitionen.bundestag.de/) at the start:
mastodon.social/@webvision/115…

mastodon.social/@webvision/115…

Petitionen: Verwendung von Cookies nicht aktiviert

^{epetitionen.bundestag.de}

webvision

2025-11-30 19:11:12

@4censord I simply wasn’t aware of the official platform in the beginning. The petition was already shared across social media and had 100+ signatures. I simply didn’t want to create more confusion. Please sign and share anyways. 🙏

@webvision

This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)

Unknown parent

papiris

Unknown parent 2 weeks ago

@mirabilos
Because the organizer of the petition wasn't aware of the official platform at the start: mastodon.social/@webvision/115…

webvision

2025-11-30 19:11:12

@4censord I simply wasn’t aware of the official platform in the beginning. The petition was already shared across social media and had 100+ signatures. I simply didn’t want to create more confusion. Please sign and share anyways. 🙏

@mirabilos

in reply to papiris

Ant

in reply to papiris 2 weeks ago

a step towards UBI, Universal Basic Income .

in reply to papiris

Andreu Casablanca 🐀

in reply to papiris 2 weeks ago

This is interesting, but I fear it could be very easily abused by open-source-but-not-community projects, such as tons of VC-backed projects that only use open source as bait, but ultimately don't really contribute to the commons nor society at large (we have plenty of examples: cryptocurrencies, blockchain projects, AI-hyped software...)

This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)

in reply to papiris

Ajinkya Dahale

in reply to papiris 2 weeks ago

As a non-German/non-EU'er who has spent some time volunteering full time, and subsequently has struggled to visit your region for meetings/events that only happen there, I request this petition also includes FOSS contributions as a recognition of experience for visa/immigration purposes.

papiris reshared this.

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papiris 2 weeks ago • •

papiris
2 weeks ago