TY - JOUR

T1 - Free riding on Gnutella revisited

T2 - the bell tolls?

AU - Hughes, D.

AU - Coulson, G.

AU - Walkerdine, J.

PY - 2005/6

Y1 - 2005/6

N2 - A new analysis of free riding on the Gnutella network updates data from 2000 and points to an increasing downgrade in the network's overall performance and the emergence of a "metatragedy" of the commons. Individuals who use peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks such as Gnutella face a social dilemma. They must decide whether to contribute to the common good by sharing files or maximize their personal experience by free riding, downloading files while not contributing any to the network. Individuals gain no personal benefits from uploading files (in fact, it's inconvenient), so it's "rational" for users to free ride. However, significant numbers of free riders degrade the entire system's utility, creating a "tragedy of the digital commons."

AB - A new analysis of free riding on the Gnutella network updates data from 2000 and points to an increasing downgrade in the network's overall performance and the emergence of a "metatragedy" of the commons. Individuals who use peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks such as Gnutella face a social dilemma. They must decide whether to contribute to the common good by sharing files or maximize their personal experience by free riding, downloading files while not contributing any to the network. Individuals gain no personal benefits from uploading files (in fact, it's inconvenient), so it's "rational" for users to free ride. However, significant numbers of free riders degrade the entire system's utility, creating a "tragedy of the digital commons."

U2 - 10.1109/MDSO.2005.31

DO - 10.1109/MDSO.2005.31

M3 - Journal article

VL - 6

SP - 1

EP - 18

JO - IEEE Distributed Systems Online

JF - IEEE Distributed Systems Online

SN - 1541-4922

IS - 6

ER -