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SUMMARY:Economics of BitTorrent Communities - Ian Kash (MSR Cambridge)
DTSTART:20120524T150000Z
DTEND:20120524T160000Z
UID:TALK36812@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Eiko Yoneki
DESCRIPTION:Over the years\, private file-sharing communities built on the
  BitTorrent protocol have developed their own policies and mechanisms for 
 motivating members to share content and contribute resources. By requiring
  members to maintain a minimum ratio between uploads and downloads\, priva
 te communities effectively establish credit systems\, and with them full-f
 ledged economies.  We report on a half-year-long measurement study of DIME
  -- a community for sharing live concert recordings -- that sheds light on
  the economic forces affecting users in such communities. A key observatio
 n is that while the download of files is priced only according to the size
  of the file\, the rate of return for seeding new files is significantly g
 reater than for seeding old files.  We find via a natural experiment that 
 users react to such differences in resale value by preferentially consumin
 g older files during a `free leech' period.  We consider implications of t
 hese findings on a user's ability to earn credits and meet ratio enforceme
 nts\, focusing in particular on the relationship between visitation freque
 ncy and wealth and on low bandwidth users. We then share details from an i
 nterview with DIME moderators\, which highlights the goals of the communit
 y based on which we make suggestions for possible improvement.\n\nJoint wo
 rk with John Lai\, Haoqi Zhang\, and Aviv Zohar\n
LOCATION:FW26\, Computer Laboratory\, William Gates Builiding
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