Designing incentive mechanisms for peer-to-peer systems

From file-sharing to mobile ad-hoc networks, community networking to application layer overlays, the peer-to-peer networking paradigm promises to revolutionize the way we design, build and use the communications network of tomorrow, transform the structure of the communications industry, and challenge our understanding of markets and democracies in a digital age. The fundamental premise of peer-to-peer systems is that individual peers voluntarily contribute resources to the system. We discuss some of the research opportunities and challenges in the design of incentive mechanisms for P2P systems.