this has been moved to https://docs.helium.com/hotspot-makers/maker-ethics/

<aside> ❗ The community may raise ethics violation issues and send evidence to the MCC via the Manufacturing Program Manager: [email protected]

</aside>

Summary

This ethics document is written by the Manufacturing Compliance Committee (MCC) to clearly document what the ethics expectations of manufacturers are. If a manufacturer fails to uphold the ethics and expectations outlined in this document, the Helium community reserves the right to take action against the manufacturer. The consequence will be decided on by the Helium community and may include: requests for more information, selling restrictions, temporary probation, or in extreme cases, revoking of a maker's key or a ban from the community.

In order to achieve the collective goal of a global decentralized Helium network, large volumes of Hotspots are manufactured from a wide range of manufacturers. The existing HIP-19 application process and guidelines provide new and existing Helium Hotspot manufacturers specific guidance on the hardware design, configuration, security, and manufacturing requirements needed to become an approved Helium compatible Hotspot manufacturer.

Only HIP-19 approved manufacturers are granted the trusted privilege to add new Hotspots to the Helium network. With this privilege, manufacturers are also entrusted with the responsibility to act ethically and with the proper internal processes to protect the integrity of the Helium network.

1. Manufacturers bear the responsibility to proactively report any potential “gamed” deployment by their customers, partners, insiders, or employees.
   • Gaming is defined as any product, process, or service that mines or earns HNT token rewards from the Helium blockchain without providing unimpeded Helium network coverage and/or data packet routing and throughput. For example, methods to spoof RSSI levels or attenuate RF signal propagation with the objective of faking network coverage are considered gaming.
     • Manufacturers will be held accountable for gaming infractions associated with the company’s employees, partners, or insiders.
     • Manufacturers shall not modify device firmware in anyways to enable or facilitate “gaming”.
     • Manufacturers shall not provide services or access to proprietary technical reference material that facilitates gaming by their customers, partners, insiders, or employees.
2. Manufacturers must have and maintain internal controls and processes to ensure the integrity of the generation and registration of the miner swarm keys consistent with their HIP-19 approved applications for the full life cycle of their products.
   • These internal controls and processes may be subject to additional auditing if manufacturer activity warrants it.
3. Manufacturers must clearly publish on their website their order fulfillment process, including the priority in which orders will be fulfilled, for both direct orders and by their authorized distributor channels.
   • Manufacturers must disclose on their website the monthly number of units being allocated to employees, company insiders, and/or partners for their first 12 months of initial production.
4. Manufacturers must publish on their website monthly shipment updates for all back-ordered products.
   • The full terms and conditions of product sales, including the manufacturer's refund policy, must be clearly published on the company and/or authorized distributor websites.
     • Refund policy must explicitly state:
       • A customer's right to receive a refund.
       • How any presales funds are being used. (Only permitted after MOC approval)
       • How a customer will receive their refund.
       • Length of time it will take to receive.
5. Manufacturers must clearly communicate their complete product support plan on their website including:
   • Mobile application(s) required for Hotspot on-boarding
   • How they plan to support their Onboarding server
   • The expected lifetime of free OTA updates for products
     • Disclose any “premium” or fee-based features, including extending the product lifetime of OTA updates.
6. Manufacturers must keep their Helium compatible product information up to date on their website including:
   • Product information including:
     • Model name
     • Countries serviced
   • User installation guides
   • Links to Helium Network reference sites
     • https://status.helium.com/
     • https://engineering.helium.com/
     • https://discord.com/invite/helium
7. The Helium blockchain and network is rapidly evolving and requires frequent firmware and network updates. Manufacturers must proactively communicate on their website the status of their products relative to the Helium blockchain and network including:
   • OTA status
   • The current firmware revision number
8. Firmware updates must be promptly maintained by manufacturers. We expect that manufacturers have an automated process by which their firmware is updated.
9. Manufacturers must clearly communicate to the MCC on their HIP-19 proposal how they intend to obtain the HNT needed to fund onboarding. Approved Hotspot Makers are responsible for supplying Data Credits (DCs) to the onboarding server for Hotspots they sell.
10. Manufacturers are responsible for the integrity of the network and should take care to sell only to genuine resellers and partners. Manufacturers will be held accountable for the integrity of their distributor/ reseller network.
11. The MCC considered Dual-Mining to be a gateway/Hotspot that mines both Helium tokens and another application.
    1. Dual-Mining is only permitted so long as it does not conflict with a DeWi Network.
       1. A DeWi network is any decentralized wireless network running on a blockchain and issuing tokens. Examples include LoRaWAN, CBRS, WiFi, etc.
    2. Dual-Mining on a Hotspot, on another DeWi network in a way that is competitive with the growth of Helium Networks is not allowed.