<p>In the initial phase of this grant, Conservancy will select a specific

  class of device. Upon achieving compliant source releases in that

  subindustry through GPL enforcement, Conservancy will launch an alternative

  firmware project for that class of device.</p>

<p>Conservancy will seek to fund the time of project leaders and

  infrastructure for the project. The goal is to build a firm base that draws

  volunteers to the project. We know that sustaining funding over long

  periods for a grassroots hobbyist activity is quite challenging; we seek to

  bootstrap and catalyze interest and contribution to the project. Ideally,

  Conservancy would run the project with a single full-time staffer for about

  a year, and achieve a volunteer base sufficient to reduce funding to one

  part-time staffer.</p>

<h3 id="criteria-for-device-selection">Criteria for Device Selection</h3>

<p>The IoT device industry moves quickly and we must be prepared to adapt

  based on new information. The first stage in this work will be to carefully

  evaluate and select the device on which to focus for this

  project. Conservancy will evaluate the following criteria in selecting a

  class of devices:</p>

<ul>

<li><p>Do most devices in the subindustry already run a known FOSS system

    (such as Android/Linux, BusyBox/Linux or GNU/Linux)?</p></li>

<li><p>In response to our increased enforcement activity, how many existing

    GPL-compliant source releases are available from how many different

    vendors in this subindustry?</p></li>

<li><p>Is there a known userspace application that runs on Maker-built

    hardware that does the task the proprietary userspace software from the

    vendor did?</p></li>

<li><p>What is the excitement level among volunteers for this

    project?</p></li>

<li><p>What value will hobbyists achieve from replacing the software on their

    device? For example, would they be able to avoid surveillance or add

    accessibility features?</p></li>

</ul>

<p>Finally, Conservancy will be prepared and willing to recognize temporary

  failure and setbacks in a particular subindustry and pivot quickly to

  choosing a different class of devices. This project is ambitious, and we’ll

  be adept in our approach to ensure success.</p>