CAREER: An Economically Sustainable Internet: From Technology and Architecture to Contracting Models

最近关于“网络中立性”的头条新闻表明了未来管理互联网的监管基础设施（如果有的话）的深刻不确定性。 也许最令人惊讶的是，这场政策辩论没有考虑到技术因素：即，互联网的技术和架构。 这个CAREER项目通过确保稳健的建筑设计和经济可持续性被视为成功的通信基础设施的互补特征来弥补这一差距。 我们研究了技术和架构对互联网承包模式的影响，以确定那些将导致经济上可持续的网络。 两个高层次的问题驱动了大部分的研究议程：（1）什么样的合同模式是“激励兼容”，即，将个人激励与全球网络可持续性结合起来？ (2)什么样的合同模式确保网络最终“动态”收敛到一个可持续的运行点？ 我们以这些问题为背景，首先评估目前互联网承包制度的缺陷。 然后，我们评估如何一系列的技术或架构的变化，使更复杂的承包模式，最终建议一个“承包协议”，使价值在多个时间尺度之间的互联网节点传输。 一个基础广泛的教育和公共推广计划补充了研究工作。更广泛的影响：该项目教育新一代的领导者和广大公众关于技术和架构在互联网经济结构中所扮演的角色。 该项目的成功完成确保了这种耦合成为关于互联网未来的国家政策辩论的中心主题。

Recent headlines about ``network neutrality'' speak to the deep uncertainty about the future regulatory infrastructure (if any) that should govern the Internet. Perhaps most surprising about this policy debate is that it has not been informed by technical considerations: i.e., the technology and architecture of the Internet. This CAREER project closes this gap, by ensuring that robust architectural design and economic sustainability are viewed as complementary features of a successful communications infrastructure. We study the influence of technology and architecture on contracting models for the Internet, to determine those which will lead to an economically sustainable network. Two high-level questions drive the majority of the research agenda: (1) What contracting models are "incentive compatible", i.e., align individual incentives with global network sustainability? (2) What contracting models ensure the network eventually converges "dynamically" to a sustainable operating point? We use these questions as the backdrop to first evaluate the shortcomings of the current Internet contracting system. We then evaluate how a sequence of technological or architectural changes enable more sophisticated contracting models, ultimately suggesting a "contracting protocol" that enables value transmission over multiple timescales between nodes of the Internet. A broad-based education and public outreach program complements the research endeavors.Broader Impacts:This project educates a new generation of leaders and the public at large about the role that technology and architecture play in the economic structure of the Internet. Successful completion of the project ensures that this coupling is a central theme in the national policy debate about the future of the Internet.