As a community, we have been dabbling with numerous ideas and projects around tech and FOSS policy over the years. This has resulted in somewhat of a top-down approach where we try to do too many things at once (personal opinion).
For 2025, @rahulporuri, @ansh, @ashlesh, and I have drawn up a rough roadmap for 3 specific areas we’d like to start working on systematically - proprietary software tenders, software essential patents (SEPs, patent that protects an invention essential to the implementation of a particular technology standard), and FOSS geopolitics. The aim is to build and disseminate FOSS policy knowledgebase.
Why such an aim? As a policy analyst, I find it discouragingly hard to look for resources related to FOSS, especially in India. In order to meaningfully advocate for FOSS adoption and against software patents, adequate analyses of the current scenario and other aspects need to be conducted first. Without this, those of us who aren’t on the tech side of things tend to get lost in jargon, technical documents, etc. Similarly, those who aren’t on the policy side of things tend to get lost in policy documents that usually lack technical aspects. This strategy is an attempt to bridge this epistemological gap and grow the tech policy community, primarily pertaining to FOSS.
The plan is simple and quick - three 3-month projects with a month’s gap between each and similar outputs.
Tenders (Feb-Apr):
- Tracking proprietary software tenders floated by the govt to analyse where MeitY’s OSS policy stands today in terms of effectiveness (2015 till date)
- Tabulating key details
- Drafting a report of the findings
- Publishing op-eds, blogs, etc.
- Sharing findings with academia, tech policy groups, policymakers
- Long-term goal: advocacy for full FOSS implementation in government services
Patents (Jun-Aug):
- Tracking patents, particularly SEPs
- Tabulating key details and analysing the effect of such patents on an independent developer/small organisation
- Drafting a report of the findings
- Publishing op-eds, blogs, etc.
- Sharing findings with academia, tech policy groups, policymakers
- Long-term goal: advocacy against software patents
- Side quest: analysing patent infringement cases, money spent on the same, impacts on innovation
Policies (Oct-Dec):
- Tracking global FOSS policies
- Creating a database of policies and key points
- Exploring the geopolitics of such policies - how are they affecting the development of FOSS globally
- Drafting a “State of FOSS Policies” report
- Long-term goal: making this a yearly report
How can you help? We need volunteers and your inputs to improve this strategy and bring it to life. People from all backgrounds are welcome (especially looking at GCPP grads ) and we aim to catch up remotely once in 2 weeks.
Reach out to us here!