chuckthenerdFeb 4
KDE

This petition wants contributing to Free Software to be legally and officially recognized as volunteering in Germany on the same level as youth work or ambulance service:

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

This would bring fiscal and funding advantages for FLOSS organizations and the volunteers themselves.

If you are a German citizen, please sign the petition and let's get our volunteers the recognition they deserve!

---

Photo credit: FSFE.

Feb 3 at 10:12amWeb
Show threadKDEFeb 3

Do you have something similar in your country? Why not help your national FLOSS projects get the status and support they often desperately need? Start your own petition!

@tdforg @gnome @Blender @fedora @Krita @kdenlive @videolan @fsfe

Show threadPixel DunnFeb 3
@kde nope i don't. in my country they care mostly about using american tech (gafam), and where funding OSS (not saying about FLOSS)…
Show threadwojtekFeb 3
@hacknorris @kde just because the government is shitty doesn't mean there aren't grassroots initiatives to push FOSS usage…
Show threadPixel DunnFeb 3
@wojtek @kde yeah. possibly only a pack of 10 guys over irc. i doubt more…
Show threadwojtekFeb 3
@hacknorris @kde just found this lovely comparison… "it ain't that bad" it seems? ;)
Show threadPixel DunnFeb 3
@wojtek wai-
THAT'S FROM PROTON???
Show threadLisPiFeb 5
@wojtek @hacknorris @kde How long would it really be a problem though?

Disruption would not last for all that long in a number of fields, or would be avoided because the systems are airgapped and simply won't get the signal to stop.
Show threadwojtekFeb 5

@lispi314 @kde @hacknorris probably not that long.

Even if it wasn't done by trump flipping the switch but rather self-inflicted "disconnecting" from the usanian tech, while there would be short-medium term pain it would be completely worth it long term (independence from the clown and the circus; boosting investment in local tech sector). Sadly we are driven by periodic (with very short cadence) elections so inflicting this on population by the politics would probably lead to loosing subsequent elections…

Show threadDamian FajferFeb 3
@kde @tdforg @gnome @Blender @fedora @Krita @kdenlive @videolan @fsfe I knew this for a while but I'm always shocked to hear that volunteering gives you any kind of benefits outside of Poland
Show threadFluxFeb 3
@kde @tdforg @gnome @Blender @fedora @Krita @kdenlive @videolan @fsfe
I actually don’t think I know of any really serious Australian FOSS groups or organisations I can push for our government to take more seriously (and reduce our dependence on foreign companies as a bonus).
Show thread64kbFeb 3
@kde @[email protected] @gnome @Blender @[email protected] @Krita @kdenlive @videolan @fsfe I do, but I think for the UK it works better when there is another countries example to follow. This also has me wondering what level of recognition the UK has for youth work or ambulance service volunteering.
Show threadn8chz 🩎Feb 3

@[email protected]

I know little of legal matters. One thing about the American situation for FLOSS, that I learned from @pluralistic but I forgot where I read it, is that open source projects have to be "educational" projects in order to qualify for status as non-profit organizations. I've long had the impression that US tax law is designed to aggressively prevent competition between the non-profit sector and the for-profit sector, and absolutely rule out competition between the public sector and the private sector.

@tdforg @gnome @Blender @fedora @Krita @kdenlive @videolan @fsfe

Show threadAdam WilliamsFeb 3
@n8chz @pluralistic @tdforg @gnome @Blender @fedora @Krita @kdenlive @videolan @fsfe I'm not aware of any legal status of "volunteering" in the United States; in almost all cases services/labor cannot be donated.
Show threadSune Stolborg VuorelaFeb 3
@kde We have a petition https://www.borgerforslag.dk/se-og-stoet-forslag/?Id=FT-22237 running in Denmark on the "official" petition website. If it reaches 50k signatures, the parliament is required to discuss it.
Anerkendelse af frivilligt arbejde med open source som samfundsgavnlig indsats med juridiske og skattemæssige fordele

Vi foreslår, at frivilligt arbejde med open source-software anerkendes som en samfundsgavnlig indsats på linje med frivilligt arbejde i almennyttige f

borgerforslag.dk
Show threadDoctorG ♀️🏳️‍🌈Feb 3
@svuorela @kde
German petition not on epetitionen.bundestag.de.
You force me to register on a different website?
No thanks!
Show threadSune Stolborg VuorelaFeb 3
@DoctorG_1 hi. I sent the link to the Danish petition on the official Danish site?
Show threadscopsFeb 3
@kde sadly the petition doesn't use the official government petition portal https://epetitionen.bundestag.de. So the officials doesn't "need" to act even if the quorum is reached. Nevertheless I hope the petition will be a huge success.
Petitionen: Startseite

Show threadBooteilleFeb 3
@kde cc @aprilorg
Show threadIvan G.Feb 3
@kde I would say that this should be extended to the whole EU, and probably this should be promoted at european level.
Show threadBeltorFeb 3
@kde it’s a good idea, but I don‘t really feel like sharing so much personal data including my address with the page, so unfortunately cannot sign
Show threadHelge WurstFeb 3

@kde Ways Germany can and will turn this against people:

If this is passed without further additions, contributing more than 15 hours / week as an unemployed German citizen can be interpreted as "not being fully available to the job market" and penalized.

If you receive more than 250€/mo via patreon or something as donations for your open source work, this will be penalized by counting as income.

You also have to know how much (highly variable) work you'll be doing.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verordnung_%C3%BCber_die_ehrenamtliche_Bet%C3%A4tigung_von_Arbeitslosen

Verordnung über die ehrenamtliche Betätigung von Arbeitslosen – Wikipedia

Show threadHelge WurstFeb 3

@kde The state should recognize the highly flexible and scalable mode of working on an open source project and create and exemption, removing the 15 hours/week barrier and requirement to announce such work beforehand.

Sent with my Siemens Faxgerät.

Show threadLarsFeb 3
@kde Signed. It's completely arbitrary and way behind the times to somehow consider free and open source volunteer work a second-class citizen.
Show threadLuci ☯⚛Feb 3
The primary thing I do in my time is working on free open source software (FOSS) and volunteering my time and labour to support its users and communities. My work supports not just global but also domestic digital infrastructure. The internet as it is as well as software as a whole could not exist without the hard work that people like us pour into the foundation of all software that is FOSS. Meanwhile, the support we receive for such work is usually very low, negligible or even nonexistent, be it legally or financially. This needs to change. On a global level, but first on a domestic and legal level, by opening pathways for support as described in this petition. Not doing so would not only constitute a missed opportunity to support an altruistic labor of love dedicated to everyone who ever used, uses or will use an app, program, smart device or computer, but it would endanger digital infrastructure in Germany and would contribute to the slowness of making us more independent from US digital infrastructure.
Show threadLuci ☯⚛Feb 3
Just pasting what I wrote on the thing even if it technically doxxes my current location (good thing that it changes very soon 😅). Hopefully it can serve as inspiration
Show threadhalcy​ Feb 3
@kde great initiative imo, this would be potentially huge
Show threadBerndFeb 3

@kde Isn't this now at least the second petition for this on a third-party platform that collects your data for an uncertain outcome? Why not use the official Bundestag e-Petition system? That way: No intermediary is involved that collects your data and, when making it an official Bundestag petition, parliament has to discuss it when it has collected a certain number of signatures.

https://epetitionen.bundestag.de/epet/peteinreichen.nc.html

Also, why is it in English? While there are some German citizens that don't speak German, there may be a lot more that don't speak English.

Petitionen: Petition einreichen

Show threadStarWolf3000Feb 3
@hopfgeist @kde Ich stimme dir da vollumfänglich zu, solch eine Petition gehört eigentlich auf den Internetauftritt des Bundestages.
Es gibt aber zumindest eine deutsche Version der Petition hier.
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
Show threadxs4me2Feb 3

@kde

Great initiative!

Show threadKevin Karhan Feb 3
@kde what's sad is that it's not on the official federal parlament petitions portal, so it'll be consequence-free ignored eveb if it would smash the 30k quota instantly.
Petitionen: Startseite

Show threadDavid Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)Feb 3

@kde

It's hard for me to see what that should look like. If I work on a personal project with no other users, is that volunteer work? How is that different from working in my own front garden (is that volunteering in Germany)?

If my employer releases my work as F/OSS, can they count my time as volunteering for any tax purposes? What about if it's a F/OSS component that is useful only in conjunction with some non-Free thing that they sell?

Show threadMonospace MentorFeb 3
@david_chisnall It's similar to charity work. There are definitions what counts as such, entry criteria and assessments. The goal, as I understand it, is to make FLOSS work first of all eligible to be classified as Volunteer Work.
@kde
Show threadDavid Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)Feb 3

@monospace @kde

It's similar to charity work

So qualifying F/OSS projects will require a load of compliance work that doesn't make sense unless your turnover in donations is large?

I'm not familiar with what counts as volunteer work in general for tax / legal purposes in Germany.

Show threadMonospace MentorFeb 3
@david_chisnall I don't know the intricacies either, but I'm sure there will be some amount of red tape. No free lunch, but at least it would be an option.
@kde
Show threadUsagiFeb 3
@david_chisnall @kde See the things listed as comparable, and ask the same thing. That should give you the answer ​​
Show threadBaseFortifyFeb 3
@kde A very good endeavour, I hope this succeeds.
Show threadAntónio DominguesFeb 3
@kde can legal residents sign it as well, or only citizens?
Show threadstiller_leserFeb 3
@kde It really seems worth supporting, not sure why it would need my home adress though...
Show threadBenedikt WiFeb 7
@stiller_leser @kde According to https://www.bundestag.de/ausschuesse/a02_Petitionsausschuss/verfahrensgrundsaetze-1075826 it's required when addressing the German national parliament for a petition electronically, that's of course not a proof you really support the cause, but they can do some plausibility checks.
Deutscher Bundestag - Grundsätze des Petitionsausschusses über die Behandlung von Bitten...

Stand: 11. November 2021 Verfahrensgrundsätze vom 8. März 1989, redaktionell geändert durch Beschluss vom 20. Februar 1991, ergänzt durch Beschluss vom 19. Juni 1991, ergänzt durch...

Deutscher Bundestag
Show threadmoin Feb 3
@kde
For some reason it doesnt like my mail adress...
Show threadJesseBotFeb 3
@kde Oh, this is really cool!
Show threadAbhijit Menon-SenFeb 4
@kde It's just nice to see three young people looking so happy about anything to do with free software.
Show threadendolexiFeb 18
@kde does the current text kind of imply that all open source software is of public benefit? I'm missing a qualifier here maybe - there can be shitty open source software made with shitty intentions, and I wouldn't like to see that included.
Show threadMax MehlFeb 18
@kde FYI, copyright of this image is @fsfe, original source here: https://fsfe.org/activities/ilovefs/whylovefs/gallery.html
I ♥ Free Software - Gallery - FSFE

A picture is worth a thousand words and describing love with letters is much harder than with images. On this page we collect some examples of people from ...

FSFE - Free Software Foundation Europe