Post B05yiRCHgpdocLcNsm by iju@mastodon.social
(DIR) More posts by iju@mastodon.social
(DIR) Post #B05yiOpAVnxjG4mtZg by rolle@mementomori.social
2025-11-09T19:53:02Z
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I may have exposed myself to scrutiny by officials even posting about this, but did you know why Finnish Mastodon admins can't mention donations? Welcome to Finland’s rahankeräyslaki (Fundraising Act) - a law so problematic it's been submitted to UN human rights reviews and noted in OECD reports on Finland's civic space. Finnish people often say Finland is "Sääntö-Suomi" (Finland of Rules) because we have too many rules and laws. Most of them are there to protect us, but some work against us. It can go too far.Here's the problem: The law defines "fundraising" as any appeal to the public to give money. "Appeal" means any verbal, written or other request or invitation. This includes simply stating "we accept donations" with any payment information or bank account number on your website.The Electronic Frontier Finland (Effi) case shows how absurd this gets. Effi, a digital rights nonprofit, was prosecuted for rahankeräysrikos (fundraising crime) just for having text on their website saying they could accept donations per their bylaws, along with bank account details. No active solicitation. No manipulation. Just information. They fought this for years through multiple courts.What makes it worse: Only registered organizations can even apply for a fundraising permit from the National Police Board. Individual Mastodon admins? Not eligible. You'd need to first register a nonprofit organization (constitution, board members, official registration with PRH), pay 50 €, handle annual financial statements, bookkeeping obligations, and tax filings, then apply for permission to ask for money to cover your €10/month server costs. All this bureaucracy just to mention a donation link.The law was updated in 2020 to add "small collection" notifications (max 10 000 €), but the core problem remains: you cannot simply mention donation options without navigating this bureaucracy. The law treats someone running a community server the same as the Red Cross running nationwide campaigns.This is why Finnish admins stay silent about funding and run things for free out of their own pocket. It's not that they're secretive - it's that Finland's fundraising law hasn't caught up with how the modern internet works. Effi has submitted complaints to UN human rights reviews calling this a violation of freedom of association.So when you see a Finnish-run instance and wonder why there's no donation info: now you know. It's not a choice, it's compliance with a law written for a different era.Obviously, I hate this law, and putting this information out there is risky for me. So let me be crystal clear: please don't donate us money. I don't encourage it at all as I am not allowed by law to do so, and I'm a law-abiding citizen, after all.#MastoAdmin #Finland #Donations
(DIR) Post #B05yiQBBTRAPSe5zWq by fox@social.hostnetwork.xyz
2025-11-09T21:36:11Z
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@rolle I was about to complain that this is a very long post but like, can't yall just host a server in a different country and/or only accept donations via crypto? Seems to me like a pretty easy bypass.
(DIR) Post #B05yiRCHgpdocLcNsm by iju@mastodon.social
2025-11-10T01:47:35Z
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@fox @rolle I'm pretty sure crypto is understood to be valuable, and treated as such. After all, a law that specifies only donations in euros seem rather easy to circumvent. You could for example just donate diamonds or gold.I'm not going to hypothesise how server location affects things, but it seems like a bit of a gray spot -- which seems like it might be read as against you should the thing ever rise up officially.
(DIR) Post #B05yiX67keHKuymY76 by rolle@mementomori.social
2025-11-09T20:14:47Z
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Let's be real, tech is tech and money is money. I'm privileged, a middle-class-ish nerd who can - for now - cover the costs. It's annoying, but not life or death for me.But here's what keeps me up at night about this law: Someone diagnosed with cancer who needs expensive medication not covered by Kela (Finland's social insurance)? They can't legally ask for help publicly. A family whose house burned down and insurance won't cover everything? Can't post a fundraising appeal. A student who can't afford life-saving treatment? Legally prohibited from asking strangers for help, even if those strangers want to give.The same law that stops me from asking donations also prevents desperate people in genuine crisis from reaching out to the public for help. They can only ask friends and family privately, assuming they have enough friends and family with means to help.In most countries, GoFundMe and similar platforms exist precisely for these situations. In Finland, using them for personal emergencies is legally questionable at best, and outright illegal at worst.So yeah, my Mastodon server situation is a trivial inconvenience. But this law doesn't just affect nerds running hobby servers. It affects people in genuine crisis who could be saved by crowdfunding - but can't legally ask. That's what makes this law not just outdated, but genuinely cruel.
(DIR) Post #B061AdTvoESmjaRiQy by nicd@masto.ahlcode.fi
2025-11-10T04:26:28Z
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@fox @rolle Neither of those would affect the interpretation of the law.