A Hybrid Architecture for Mitigating Free-Riding in P2P Network: A Comprehensive Review and Strategic Recommendations
Keywords:
Hybrid, Architecture, Free riding, P2P network, uploadingAbstract
Free-riding in the context of a peer-to-peer network has to do with a peer consuming files from the network and not readily contributing in return by uploading files back to the network so they can be beneficial to other peers. As different architectures for peer-to-peer (P2P) networks have been developed, P2P networks have gained popular attention due to their decentralized nature, scalability, and better file sharing and storage capabilities. However, free riding in P2P networks still remains a major problem common to all P2P networks. This work conducted and presented a detailed review on various free-riding mitigation mechanisms, thereby unveiling the drawbacks of existing strategies. The publications were chosen from peer-reviewed papers on Google Scholar, IEEE, ResearchGate, Elsevier, Springer, Science Direct MDPI, arxiv. Discouraging free riding in P2P networks, cooperation in P2P networks, free riding mitigation mechanisms in P2P networks and efficient resource sharing in P2P were some of the terms used in the search. Out of 201 studies, 45 met the criteria for inclusion. 16 of the studies focused on discouraging free riding in P2P network, 3 on cooperation in P2P networks, 20 on free riding mitigation mechanisms and 4 on efficient resource sharing in P2P networks. This study uncovered some research gaps and recommended a dynamic grace period allocation with a content scanning mechanism to mitigate free-riding behaviour among peers in a hybrid peer-to-peer network and stop peers from sharing fake or repeated files in the network.
References
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Ghaderzadeh, A., Kargahi, M. and Reshadi, M., 2017. Infred: intelligent free rider detection in collaborative distributed systems. Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 78, pp.134-145.
Singha, N., Singh, Y.N. and Gupta, R., 2019. Adaptive capacity partitioning in cooperative computing to maximize received resources. IEEE Access, 8, pp.3551-3565.
Rahman, M., Yuksel, M. and Quint, T., 2021. A game-theoretic framework to regulate freeriding in inter-provider spectrum sharing. IEEE Transactions on wireless Communications, 20(6), pp.3941-3957.
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Shi, X., Han, J., Liu, Y. and Ni, L.M., 2009. Popularity adaptive search in hybrid P2P systems. Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing, 69(2), pp.125-134.
Biaou, B.O.S., Oluwatope, A.O., Odukoya, H.O., Babalola, A., Ojo, O.E. and Sossou, E.H., 2022. Ayo game approach to mitigate free riding in peer-to-peer networks. Journal of King Saud University-Computer and Information Sciences, 34(6), pp.2451-2460.
R. Khalid, N. Javaid, S. Javaid, M. Imran and N. Naseer, "A blockchain-based decentralized energy management in a P2P trading system," ICC 2020 - 2020 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), Dublin, Ireland, 2020, pp. 1-6, doi: 10.1109/ICC40277.2020.9149062.
Kurdi, H., Althnian, A., Abdulghani, M. and Alkharji, S., 2020. An Adjusted Free-Market-Inspired Approach to Mitigate Free-Riding Behavior in Peer-to-Peer Fog Computing. Electronics, 9(12), p.2027.
Ayodeji, I.O., 2022. Increasing service capacity of peer-to-peer file sharing networks by using a decentralized reputation system (Doctoral dissertation, Dublin, National College of Ireland).
Goswami, A., Gupta, R. and Parashari, G.S., 2017. Reputation-based resource allocation in P2P systems: A game theoretic perspective. IEEE Communications Letters, 21(6), pp.1273-1276.
Alotibi, B., Alarifi, N., Abdulghani, M. and Altoaimy, L., 2019. Overcoming free-riding behavior in peer-to-peer networks using points system approach. Procedia Computer Science, 151, pp.1060-1065.
Hazazi, M., Almousa, A., Kurdi, H., Al-Megren, S. and Alsalamah, S., 2019. A Credit-Based Approach for Overcoming Free-Riding Behaviour in Peer-to-Peer Networks. Computers, Materials & Continua, 59(1).
Adamu, A., 2021. Share-Ratio-Based Incentive Mechanism for File Sharing With BitTorrent Protocol. IEEE Access, 9, pp.91524-91536.
Zhang, B.Y. and Pei, S., 2022. Game theory and the evolution of cooperation. Journal of the Operations Research Society of China, 10(2), pp.379-399.
Shareh, M.B., Navidi, H., Javadi, H.H.S. and HosseinZadeh, M., 2019. Preventing Sybil attacks in P2P file sharing networks based on the evolutionary game model. Information Sciences, 470, pp.94-108.
Ahmed, A. and Choi, B.J., 2023. FRIMFL: A Fair and Reliable Incentive Mechanism in Federated Learning. Electronics, 12(15), p.3259.
He, Y., Li, H., Cheng, X., Liu, Y., Yang, C. and Sun, L., 2018. A blockchain based truthful incentive mechanism for distributed P2P applications. IEEE access, 6, pp.27324-27335.
He, S., Lu, Y., Tang, Q., Wang, G. and Wu, C.Q., 2021. Fair peer-to-peer content delivery via blockchain. In Computer Security–ESORICS 2021: 26th European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, Darmstadt, Germany, October 4–8, 2021, Proceedings, Part I 26 (pp. 348-369). Springer International Publishing.
Awasthi, S.K. and Singh, Y.N., 2019. Simplified Biased Contribution Index (SBCI): A mechanism to make P2P network fair and efficient for resource sharing. Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing, 124, pp.106-118.
Berenjian, S., Hajizadeh, S. and Atani, R.E., 2019, November. An incentive security model to provide fairness for peer-to-peer networks. In 2019 IEEE Conference on Application, Information and Network Security (AINS) (pp. 71-76). IEEE.
Pal, D., Khethavath, P., Thomas, J.P. and Mangla, U., 2022. KeyPIn–mitigating the free rider problem in the distributed cloud based on Key, Participation, and Incentive. Journal of Cloud Computing, 11(1), p.8.
Goyal, P., Netravali, R., Alizadeh, M. and Balakrishnan, H., 2019. Secure incentivization for decentralized content delivery. In 2nd USENIX Workshop on Hot Topics in Edge Computing (HotEdge 19).
ImaniMehr, Z. and DehghanTakhtFooladi, M., 2019. Token-based incentive mechanism for peer-to-peer video streaming networks. The Journal of Supercomputing, 75, pp.6612-6631.
Hua, J.S., Huang, S.M., Yen, D.C. and Chena, C.W., 2012. A dynamic game theory approach to solve the free riding problem in the peer-to-peer networks. Journal of Simulation, 6, pp.43-55.
Wu, T.Y., Lee, W.T., Guizani, N. and Wang, T.M., 2014. Incentive mechanism for P2P file sharing based on social network and game theory. Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 41, pp.47-55.
Heuer, L. and Orland, A., 2019. Cooperation in the Prisoner’s Dilemma: an experimental comparison between pure and mixed strategies. Royal Society open science, 6(7), p.182142.
Ma, X., Yu, D., Du, Y., Li, L., Ni, W. and Lv, H., 2023. A Blockchain-Based Incentive Mechanism for Sharing Cyber Threat Intelligence. Electronics, 12(11), p.2454.
Motepalli, S. and Jacobsen, H.A., 2021, September. Reward mechanism for blockchains using evolutionary game theory. In 2021 3rd Conference on Blockchain Research & Applications for Innovative Networks and Services (BRAINS) (pp. 217-224). IEEE.
Pradhan, S., Tripathy, S. and Nandi, S., 2018, December. Blockchain based security framework for P2P filesharing system. In 2018 IEEE International Conference on Advanced Networks and Telecommunications Systems (ANTS) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.
Tseng, Y.M. and Chen, F.G., 2011. A free-rider aware reputation system for peer-to-peer file-sharing networks. Expert Systems with Applications, 38(3), pp.2432-2440.
Sun, Z., Wan, J., Yin, L., Cao, Z., Luo, T. and Wang, B., 2022. A blockchain-based audit approach for encrypted data in federated learning. Digital Communications and Networks, 8(5), pp.614-624.
Azzedin, F., 2016. Mitigating the effect of free riders in distributed systems: A trust-based approach. International Journal of Sensor Networks, 22(4), pp.248-258.
de Lucena Falcão, E., Brasileiro, F., Brito, A. and Vivas, J.L., 2016. Enhancing fairness in P2P cloud federations. Computers & Electrical Engineering, 56, pp.884-897.
Ghaderzadeh, A., Kargahi, M. and Reshadi, M., 2017. Infred: intelligent free rider detection in collaborative distributed systems. Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 78, pp.134-145.
Singha, N., Singh, Y.N. and Gupta, R., 2019. Adaptive capacity partitioning in cooperative computing to maximize received resources. IEEE Access, 8, pp.3551-3565.
Rahman, M., Yuksel, M. and Quint, T., 2021. A game-theoretic framework to regulate freeriding in inter-provider spectrum sharing. IEEE Transactions on wireless Communications, 20(6), pp.3941-3957.
Anandaraj, M., Ganeshkumar, P., Selvaraj, K. and Vijayakumar, K.P., 2020. An efficient framework for network code based multimedia content distribution in hybrid P2P network. Journal of Circuits, Systems and Computers, 29(10), p.2050157.
Stokkink, Q., Ileri, C.U. and Pouwelse, J., 2022, September. Reputation-Based Data Carrying for Web3 Networks. In 2022 IEEE 47th Conference on Local Computer Networks (LCN) (pp. 283-286). IEEE.
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Published
2025-09-22
How to Cite
Akinboro, S., Tunwashe, . D. ., Oladeji , F. ., & Ayowole, T. (2025). A Hybrid Architecture for Mitigating Free-Riding in P2P Network: A Comprehensive Review and Strategic Recommendations. Ife Journal of Technology, 30(1). Retrieved from http://ijt.oauife.edu.ng/index.php/ijt/article/view/249
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Section
III. Electrical and Computing Technologies
