Book publishers have long used free content as part of their marketing and selling efforts, with the vast majority of free content distributed in printed form. Digital distribution of free material, either intentional or via unauthorized availability through peer-to-peer sites and other Web outlets, offers a fast and expansive connection to...

In distributed, open systems like cyberspace, where the behavior of autonomous agents is uncertain and can affect other agents' welfare, trust management is used to allow agents to determine what to expect about the behavior of other agents. The role of trust management is to maximize trust between the parties and thereby provide a basis...

This brief guides the reader through three basic Internet resource pricing models using an Internet cost analysis. Addressing the evolution of service types, it presents several corresponding mechanisms which can ensure pricing implementation and resource allocation. The authors discuss utility optimization of network pricing methods in...

Anyone new to...

"Provides rich background information to beginners entering this subject area. … The diagrams … are clear-cut, as are the snippets of codes. There are hardly any errors throughout the book. … covers a broad and coherent range of distributed-computing techniques … . People with different...