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: https://www.openpetition.de/petition/online/anerkennung-von-open-source-arbeit-als-ehrenamt-in-deutschland#petition-main

The petition in english language: https://www.openpetition.de/petition/online/recognition-of-work-on-open-source-as-volunteering-in-germany

News article (German): https://www.heise.de/news/Petition-Open-Source-Arbeit-soll-als-Ehrenamt-gelten-11094436.html

News article (English): https://www.heise.de/en/news/Petition-Open-source-work-should-count-as-volunteer-activity-11095357.html

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

Anerkennung von Open-Source-Arbeit als Ehrenamt in Deutschland - Online petition

Open-Source-Software bildet heute das Fundament großer Teile der digitalen Infrastruktur – in Verwaltung, Wirtschaft, Forschung und im täglichen Leben. Selbst im aktuellen Koalitionsvertrag der Bundesregierung wird Open-Source-Software als elementarer Baustein zur Erreichung digitaler Souveränität genannt. Bei vielen Bürgern ist leider kein Bewusstsein vorhanden, wo sie überall mit Open-Source-Software in Verbindung kommen. Egal ob es eine Website im Internet ist, der Ticket-Automat für die Bahn

openPetition
@papiris @postmarketOS @freifunk @kde @nextcloud @Mastodon @webvision 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.