Enforcing Resource Sharing in Peer-to-Peer Systems by Means of Random Audits

摘要

A method to enforce sharing of resources in distributed Peer-to-Peer (P2P) systems, which can compensate for the lack of a dedicated infrastructure or an administrative authority to coordinate among peers. The method of the invention is capable of quickly and accurately identifying free-riding peers (i.e., those peers who do not share resources with the other peers in the P2P system). This is done by means of randomly auditing the peers to ensure they are sharing the resources they obtain. Peers who do not share resources are denied service in the future, while altruistic peers are offered preferential treatment, which enforces free-riders to contribute more to the system. The method of the invention is applicable for controlling various types of P2P systems including, but not limited to, P2P file sharing networks.