Stimulating Participation in Wireless Community Networks

Wireless Community Networks (WCNs) are wide-area wireless networks whose nodes are owned and managed by volunteers. We focus on the provision of Internet access to mobile users through WCN-controlled wireless LAN access points (APs). We rely on reciprocity: a person participates in the WCN and provides ‘free’ Internet access to mobile users in order to enjoy the same benefit when mobile. Our reciprocity scheme is compatible with the distinctive structure of WCNs: it does not require registration with authorities, relying only on uncertified free identities (public-private key pairs). Users sign digital receipts when they consume service. The receipts form a receipt graph, which is used as input to a reciprocity algorithm that identifies contributing users using network flow techniques. Simulations show that this algorithm can sustain reciprocal cooperation. We have implemented our algorithm to run on common APs.