Petition launched in Germany to formally recognize open source work as a volunteer public service

A petition calling for the development and maintenance of open source software (OSS) to be officially recognized as 'volunteer activity' (Ehrenamt) under the German law was launched in late November 2025. This petition is a groundbreaking attempt to raise the legal status of engineers who support the digital infrastructure of modern society to the same level as local soccer coaches or fire brigades.

Anerkennung von Open-Source-Arbeit als Ehrenamt in Deutschland - Online petition
https://www.openpetition.de/petition/online/anerkennung-von-open-source-arbeit-als-ehrenamt-in-deutschland#petition-main

Much of the foundation of modern internet protocols, security libraries, healthcare systems, and even AI frameworks is supported by open source software developed by volunteers. The German government also touts open source as a key element of 'digital sovereignty' in its coalition agreement. However, petition initiator Boris Hinzer argues, 'In reality, the developers who maintain open source software are outside the legal framework.' He argues that maintaining socially essential software for free is considered a mere 'hobby' and therefore receives no support.

Germany already has charitable organizations that support OSS development, such as the Center for the Cultivation of Technology (CCT), a non-profit limited liability company that acts as a legal entity for technology projects. There are also examples of organizations that have been granted public interest status under the pretext of 'education' or 'cultural promotion.' However, in order to utilize these existing frameworks, organizations often have to force their activities into existing categories like 'education,' and the hurdles to establishing an organization are high, making it difficult for average developers to get started.

Hinzer is calling for the correction of this imbalance and is calling for several specific legal reforms.

The first is to apply tax exemptions to activity expenses and honoraria received by developers. This will allow developers to reduce their financial outlays and continue their activities sustainably. The second is to make it easier for open source projects to be recognized as 'public benefit.' Under current German tax law, it is extremely difficult for software development projects to be recognized as public benefit, so the aim is to relax this rule and make donations eligible for deductions, thereby lowering the hurdles to fundraising.

Even more important is reducing the legal liability of developers. Currently, there is still a risk that developers who write code as volunteers could be held personally liable if a bug or security hole occurs. In order to change the current situation where the burden of responsibility falls heavily on a small number of unpaid volunteers when a serious incident like ' Log4Shell ' occurs, there is a need to apply liability limitations similar to those for directors of public interest corporations and create an environment in which developers can contribute with peace of mind.

In response to this move, various opinions have been expressed on the technology news site Hacker News.

Lionkor recounts his bitter experience when he tried to launch a large open source project in Germany. He said he faced issues with handling user data, the risk of legal action from competing large companies, and financial management. In particular, when he tried to pay small activity allowances (below the minimum wage) to collaborating members, he was unable to find a legally secure and easy way to do so, and as a result, the team was forced to disband. He strongly argues that if the 'tax-free allowance for activity allowances' and 'simple incorporation process' requested in this petition had existed at the time, the project might have been able to continue.

On the other hand, careful discussions are being held regarding the specific activities that should be eligible for support.

To prevent a proliferation of projects that are merely hobby projects or projects aimed at building a reputation for job hunting, netdevphoenix suggests that project owners should impose certain conditions, such as excluding projects from funding, or only recognizing modifications that are actually implemented in the program itself as 'activities.'

However, strong concerns have been raised about these criteria, and sReinwald counters that project managers bear the heaviest responsibility and mental burden. Project managers handle mundane but important tasks outside of writing code, such as sorting through bug reports late at night and reviewing fix proposals submitted by others. If we exclude managers or judge only by the amount of code adopted, we risk missing out on those who need the most support. In particular, there have been security incidents in the past with XZ Utils, where a lack of manager resources allowed malicious attackers to infiltrate and install backdoors. sReinwald argued that comprehensive support, including that of managers, is crucial.

Summary of the timeline leading up to the backdoor attack on XZ Utils - GIGAZINE

The petition will be accepted until May 24, 2026. The goal is to collect 30,000 signatures, and at the time of writing, it has collected approximately 4,000 signatures.