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，未来管理互联网的监管基础设施（如果有的话）存在极大的不确定性。也许最令人惊讶的是，这场政策辩论并没有考虑到技术方面的因素：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，从而缩小了这一差距。我们研究了技术和架构对互联网承包模式的影响，以确定哪些模式将导致经济上可持续的网络。两个高层次的问题推动了大部分的研究议程：(1)什么契约模式是“激励相容”的，即使个人激励与全球网络的可持续性相一致？(2)什么样的契约模型能保证网络最终“动态地”收敛到一个可持续的运行点？我们以这些问题为背景，首先评估当前互联网合同制度的缺陷。然后，我们评估一系列技术或架构变化如何实现更复杂的契约模型，最终提出一种“契约协议”，使互联网节点之间的多个时间尺度上的价值传输成为可能。一个基础广泛的教育和公众宣传计划补充了研究工作。更广泛的影响：这个项目教育新一代的领导者和公众，让他们了解技术和建筑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是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.